About the Book

In this account of life in Australia during the extraordinary years of ‘The Great Depression’ and World War II, Mary Thorogood has depicted the extremely harsh conditions her family endured, as they struggled to put food on the table, with little or no money or regular income. This book exemplifies how love can keep families together despite such hardships.

They derive pleasure from the simple things in life: wildflowers; sunsets; the antics of children and animals; storytelling at the campfire.

They are Professional Fishermen; Dinkum Ausie Battlers, who strived to keep their families fed during hard times. Always short of money, they are honest, hardworking, industrious, and innovative people who persevere despite horrendous problems that are no fault of their own.

About the Author

Mary Thorogood was born ‘Mary Matilda Greenhalgh’ in 1933 in Ballina, New South Wales. She moved with her family to Queensland in 1937, where she lived at Beaver Rock. She married her husband, Ed Thorogood, in 1953. Together they built a 36-foot fishing boat on which they fished for ten years, chasing mackerel. In 1961, she moved ashore, and has lived at Scarborough, Queensland, for over fifty-years, where she and her husband brought up a family of seven children.

Mary wrote this book in spite of having only had a very limited education. She rose above this disadvantage and undertook a marathon effort in order that the experiences of her family during those extraordinary days would not be lost forever.