A Railwayman’s Journey

The career journey of this particular railwayman, Denny Ellis, begins when he is successful in his application for the position of Probationary Junior Porter in 1945 to his retirement in 1989, while holding the position of Superintendent.

I found the early part of the book a very personal insight into post war life particularly work on the railways of NSW. There are charming and amusing comparisons to life today eg when he receives his letter of appointment in the post he ads “how else!”

The story is a combination of Ellis’ personal life and working life. It is an important insight into social impact of changes in the Railways particularly during the 1950s and 1960s and would therefore be of interest not only to rail enthusiasts but also to those interested in post WWII and social history.

Through all the ‘railway’ speak, stories of shunting, shift work and the convolutions of railway bureaucracy there are important life lessons that generations today should take note. Lessons about family loyalty, loving and enduring relationship, the value of hard work and honesty.

As a social history enthusiast I enjoyed the book at the beginning but found that the later chapters became very heavily focused on safe working practices and timetable handling.

The book does however effectively demonstrates the importance of the Railways in NSW, the need for a large workforce with strict levels of responsibility and communication lines needed to safely operate goods and passenger services.

I am not an zealous railway enthusiast and although I skipped over a lot of the railway operations narrative I enjoyed the biographical content.

But I understood and appreciated enough of the “railway speak” to appreciate the intricacies and complexities of operating train pre computers.

I have marked this as 2.5* because personally it got too involved in the descriptions relation to train controlling on the various lines. I am positive true rail enthusiasts will thoroughly enjoy it.

With the Best of Intentions

“I have nothing but praise for Dr Barnados. Everything they did for us was done with the best of intentions and most of us turned out well in our adopted country.”

This is the last reflection in Cliff’s Story, just one of the stories about the Barnado boys at The Farm Training School, at Mowbray Park near Picton, NSW between 1929 and 1959.

The explains the circumstances of the day when physically and mentally healthy children under fourteen, were selected from children’s homes in England by Dr Barnados and sent to various institutions and school both in England and the colonies under the Child Migration Scheme. The scheme was devised as a way of providing cheap farm labour and to do other menial jobs. At the end of their time at the farm the boys would be found labouring work on farm properties throughout the state.

The historic property of Mowbray Park became one of the farm schools for some of these boys.

Through the stories of some of the Mowbray Park Barnado boys, retold in oral histories for the book, we begin to understand their joys and their fears. 

Only one of the stories has a strong negative narrative that involved sexual abuse. The others, while describing both the negative and positive aspects of life in an institution, mostly express some appreciation of the opportunity given to them.

One of the boys clearly describes one of the main failures of the system; “after nearly 10 years of rules and regimentation of not having to make any decisions and being told what to do and when to do it and by having life completely organised by other people, to be cast off into society for which we were grossly ill equipped, but did not realise this at the time.”

My rating 3.5* but only because there are some print errors eg photos over captions that should not be there.

Man in the Brown Suit

Anne Beddingfield cares for her famous anthropologist father whose only interest is Paeleolithic Man.

When her father dies she is suddenly left without a single living relative, only as 87 pounds her inheritance and absolutely no idea what to do with herself.

She is forced to accept the offer of her father’s friend and lawyer to live with him and his wife.

But she gets bored with her life and inspired by her favourite heroine from “The Perils of Pamela” she dreams of adventure.

When she witnesses a man falling from a train station platform and is the only one to notice a clue on a piece of paper she sees this as an opportunity for adventure and mystery.

The police believe his death is accidental. Anne sees beyond the accident after she suspects the “doctor” on the scene not to be who he appears to be. Then there is the curious clue, a cryptic message that only Anne noticed. She needs to find the Man in the Brown Suit and solve the murder.

Her enquiries lead her to buys a ticket on a ship sailing for to South Africa. It costs exactly 87 pounds and Anne sees it as an omen that it had to be.

She decides to try and solve the mystery herself and her adventures begin. On board she meets the main characters.

·         Member of Parliament, Sir Eustace Pedlar; rich and eccentric with a delightfully wicked sense of humour

·         Guy Pagett, Sir Eustace Pedler's hard working and patient secretary

·         Charming socialite Suzanne Blair who becomes Anne’s close friend and ally.

·         The mysterious Colonel Race with a potential romantic connection. But who with - Anne or Suzanne?

Many reviews say how much they liked the character of Colonel Race but I felt that it lacked strength. However, his appearance in later books give greater insight into his character

·         Harry Rayburn, dark and mysterious and who is he really?

·         The creepy Rev Edward Chichester but is also what he seems. Is he even a man?

But who is the Man in the Brown Suit and are any of them what they seem?

During Anne’s her adventure passengers fight over wanting her cabin, she gets kidnapped, nearly murdered (twice) and finds love. Finally she discovers who the Man in the Brown suit really is and and reveals who the mysterious 'Colonel' is.

The story is a mixture of crime, mystery, adventure, espionage and romance with just a touch of insight into the history of South Africa.

I felt though that Anne’s romance didn’t have a build-up. Her announcement to the reader of who the man is that she loves, and of course he is ruggedly handsome, seems a bit sudden. When the relationship finally comes to something it has an exciting nature.

Part of the delight of the book is Anne’s confidence to deal with whatever comes along but when unexpected situations become truly dangerous she reflects that “this didn’t happen to Pamela” or “What would Pamela do in this situation?”

Anne is a charming heroine full of adventure and spirit. She’s an intelligent and witty young lady but at times very naïve about the dangers of her adventure.

Interspersed with Anne’s own narration of her story is that of Sir Eustace Pedler as he records his day and reflections in his diary. These writings have an amusing side particularly at the expense of his secretary who he enjoys making fun of.

While it may not be her best work it is still a great read and put simply, lots of fun and pure escapism. I think Christie has written this story a little tongue in cheek which makes for rollicking fun.

The plot is different, characters typically “Christie” vintage with the sprinkling of humour throughout.

Many reviews of this book criticise attitudes towards race and women expressed in the book. If you are offended by books that were written at a time when these attitudes were the norm then all I can say is don’t read them.

As readers, we need to be aware that may happen and, unfortunately, accept that this was the attitude of the day. If you can’t do that don’t read books from this vintage. Christie wrote this book in 1924

The Escape of Alexei, Son of Tsar Nicholas II: What Happened the Night the Romanov Family Was Executed

This book is based on the authors’ theory that the son of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsaverich Alexei, survived the shooting of the royal family during the Russian revolution in 1918.

They use historical documents and the photographic likeness of Vasily Filatov to Alexei to support their claim that Filatov is in fact the tsarvich.

It is an intriguing theory and the authors themselves state more research is required to positively prove their case.

Whether you believe the theory or not, based on historical documents and witness statements the book contains interesting information about the political confusion of the Russian revolution. 

If you have an interest in the Romanov family and the Russian revolution it is well worth the read.

However, overall it didn’t convince me that Vasily Filatov was the true heir to the Russian throne.

My rating 2.5 *