Author’s tale of love and bushranging
A passion for history, her unique heritage and Australian culture have culminated for Kim Kelly in a rewarding career as an author.
“I am an activist for stories,” the Millthorpe writer and editor told her enthralled audience during a visit to Dubbo’s Macquarie Regional Library to promote her latest book “Lady Bird and the Fox”.
“We live in an amazing country full of amazing tales. And Australian history is full of surprises and adventure.
“It reminds me of what a unique and special continent Australia is.”
It was a glimpse of one of the country’s most well-known bushrangers that led to the emergence of her latest story, and no, Kim is not related to Ned Kelly.
“I happened to come across an article about Mary Ann Bugg, a raconteur, an opera singer, an Aboriginal bushranger and the bravado behind Captain Thunderbolt,” she explained.
The story then came in a great outpouring in a mixture of long hand and typed words, blending fact and fiction to become Ms Kelly’s latest offering.
“The story felt so real to me that it felt like it had always been there, and perhaps it had,” she
Kelly says her multicultural upbringing and love of reading history have influenced her writing. SUPPLIED
mused.
After growing up in La Perouse, Ms Kelly said it was likely that such a tale would be told by herself.
“It was inevitable that I would write a story about the clash between Aboriginal people and the Colonials,” she explains.
But like many of her stories, this one also has a romance within its pages.
“It’s a love story and a wild west extravaganza,” she laughed.
With her Irish/jewish heritage, Ms Kelly is no stranger to different ethnicities and relishes that her lead characters Annie and Jem come from very different
backgrounds.
Growing up in Sydney, she too had a very multicultural upbringing and also enjoyed reading history, traits which have now come to life in her novels.
“My first love as a little girl was history and my most precious reading memory is of poring over my grandfather’s history books.
“Lady Bird and the Fox” took four years to write and Ms Kelly says it felt like “Annie and Jem took over my heart and soul”.