Rin Petweed took to heart from an early age a hackneyed phrase his father continually repeated; “Variety is the spice of life.”

Born two months into World War 2, Rin, as a pre-teen, developed a penchant for singing and regularly sang on children’s radio programs and charity concerts under the urging of his mother who was a top billing dramatic child actor in the early 1900’s.

Leaving school just after his sixteenth birthday, Rin entered the world of self-employment and remained there for 56 years. His vocations initially embraced the automotive industry, particularly in the field of exotic European Marques. Success in this field enabled him to diversify into agricultural farming, the hotel/restaurant industry, light aircraft piloting, ocean going sailing, commodity brokering, investment advice, theatrical production, journalism, the building industry and landscape architecture to name a few. He enjoys Polish Vodka, red wine, gourmet cooking; particularly of Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine, and entertaining his friends.

In the mid 1970’s he joined a “save the planet” crusade that ran counter to the more confrontational methods used by high profile Greenie movements. Operating under the umbrella of a small group loosely named I.D.E.A. (Independent Design Experiments Australia), Rin lobbied industry and governments worldwide, to encourage the establishment of an experimental design base. A base in which creative minds, could collaborate, to demonstrate how families of the future, must live in harmony with the earth’s ecology, for all life to be sustainable. This demonstration would be achieved, via the practical application of progressive techniques in the fields of habitation, cultivation, recreation, communication and energy. The reversal of damage to the environment, would be inherent in the base’s design philosophy. Visual pollution would be addressed in every aspect.

Rin and his associates were convinced that aesthetically beautiful, and pollution free living environments must be designed, tested and proven before being thrust at society. By using a little lateral thinking and intuition, talented visualisers were more than capable of demonstrating effectively, the fundamentals involved in “living with the earth”. The Terrability novel is a fictional account on how the above proposed design base becomes a reality, and in which its central character Klaus Katbergler, achieves what Rin failed to do.