EVENT IS ON TODAY!

to me.

The family connection is one thing, but her contribution to documenting and commentating on Australian society of the time through her fiction and non-fiction earns her a place in our history, and this inconspicuous pocket diary is one of the last remaining pieces of the puzzle that was her life.

Was she inspired to write about the central west?

My great, great grandfather Gus Lampe farmed property at Peak Hill, on the highway between Dubbo and Parkes. He was a favourite uncle of Stella and she visited him and another uncle at Peak Hill on a few occasions, one of those occasions being prior to her leaving Australia for the US in 1906. The Peak Hill Express reported on one of these visits on September 29, 1905.

Jill Roe writes in Miles’ biography (pp.106-107): “Peak Hill was a significant place in the life of Miles Franklin. Among other things, it was where she went for solace when her mother died in 1938.”

Peak Hill and the farm were also rich pickings for Miles’ writings, as she referred to the landscapes and pastoral activities in her writings... and possibly some family members formed the basis of her characters.

We have family scattered across the Central West of NSW and beyond, all connected to Miles through various branches of the family tree. Over the last 12 months, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting older family members who remember Miles as Auntie Stella. z Finding Miles Franklin’s last diary, with Kim V. Goldsmith

z Macquarie Regional Library

z Thursday, March 8, 6pm to 7.30pm

z Bookings preferred 6801 4510. Light refreshments provided