GUEST POST: Dr David Faber on Harry Hodgetts: The flawed broker behind Don Bradman’s move to Adelaide by John Davis

From ‘Big Shot’ to ‘Swindler’, racier newspapers gloated when Harry Hodgetts was convicted of fraud and false pretences in September 1945. But how did things go so wrong for Hodgetts?

In Harry Hodgetts: The flawed broker behind Don Bradman’s move to Adelaide, John Davis writes the complex story of this hard-working, gifted social climber, his fall into bankruptcy and a prison cell, and the scandal that haunted Bradman’s reputation.

In this special guest post, Dr David Faber of Flinders University provides his reflections on this riveting biography.

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GUEST POST: Matthew P. Fitzpatrick on An Indigenous South

An Indigenous South: German writers on colonial South Australia, edited by Peter Monteath and Matthew P. Fitzpatrick, shines a light on a forgotten aspect of South Australia’s history.

The book collects the writing of German settlers and visitors to Australia, charting the course of German–Australian encounters from first contacts, through the ruptures and violence of a relentlessly expanding European presence and into the twentieth century.

Co-editor Matthew P. Fitzpatrick presented a fascinating talk on the book at the September meeting of the Friends of the Lutheran Archives. We’re pleased now to be able to share this in-depth explanation of the book with a wider audience.

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HIDDEN HISTORIES: Causing a stir with Arcadian Adelaide

Hidden HistoriesIn this third installment of Hidden Histories, we travel back in time to 1905 Adelaide, when Scottish-born actress and satirical writer Thistle Anderson first published Arcadian Adelaide to quite a stir in sleepy Adelaide.

Published again in 2020 for a modern audience, this hilarious little volume, intended by its author as ‘a playful skit’, is to be taken with a pinch of salt … or perhaps savoured, stubbornly, with a glass of excellent Adelaide wine.

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HIDDEN HISTORIES: Medieval recipes for today with food historian Barbara Santich

Hidden HistoriesIn this second installment of Hidden Histories, we are traveling back in time to discover The Original Mediterranean Cuisine and delve into the recipes (and food culture) of medieval times.

Acclaimed culinary historian Barbara Santich tells the story of authentic medieval Mediterranean food, and brings to the table recipes translated and adapted for modern kitchens from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian and Catalan manuscripts.

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HIDDEN HISTORIES: Ivan Polyukhvoich’s case to answer

In the first instalment of our new series, Hidden Histories, intern Reem Ernst, recent Law graduate, takes a look at the shocking trial of Ivan Polyukhovich in Adelaide in 1990.

Written by journalist David Bevan, and based on his observations as a court reporter, court transcripts and witness statements,.A Case to Answer serves as a record of an astounding case in legal history both in Australia and the world.

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BEHIND THE BOOK: Valerie Volk and her search for Anna

In a new series on the Wakefield Press blog, we’ve asked authors to write about the background, inspiration, research and work that goes into writing a book.

This week, Valerie Volk writes about her search for her distant relative Anna Werner, who in 1889 left the German town of Lewin to search for her son in the distant colonies of Australia. This search culminated in Valerie’s novel, In Search of Anna, a story that Valerie describes as a journey book, historical fiction, a study of motherhood, a detective novel, and a romantic tale all rolled into one.

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BEHIND THE BOOK: Anne Black on George Isaacs

Anne Black, George Isaacs and Pendragon

In a new series on the Wakefield Press blog, we’ve asked authors to write about the background, inspiration, research and work that goes into writing a book.

This week features Anne Black, author of Pendragon: The life of George Isaacs, Colonial wordsmith. Anne writes about her first encounter with little-known literary icon George Isaacs, and the death certificate that sparked an obsession and a biography.

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GUEST POST: Stephen Orr on Auschwitz, guilt, and responsibility

Stephen Orr on Auschwitz, guilt , and responsibility

What right do I have to talk about this place? What do I know about it? How much can I feel, can I see and smell and hear the suffering?

These are the questions author and teacher Stephen Orr asked himself after visiting the remains of the Auschwitz prison camp. In this guest post, Stephen writes of the importance of feeling pain that is not necessarily yours, and of remembering what has happened in the past as a way of improving the future.

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How to Work From Home: Lainie Anderson’s tips

How to Work from Home

Welcome to the week, and to a new blog series here at Wakefield Press! Introducing How to Work From Home: Authors talk about how they stay productive.

Like many others, we’ve recently begun the transition from office work to working from home. It’s a strange transition to make, and we need some help. We’ve interviewed a collection of our favourite authors to get their best tips, tricks and truths about working from home.

Lainie AndersonNext in the series is Lainie Anderson. Lainie has been a weekly columnist with Adelaide’s Sunday Mail since 2007, and previously worked at the Herald Sun in Melbourne and The Times in London. In 2017 she travelled to nine countries on a Churchill Fellowship to gauge the significance of the pioneering 1919 flight from England to Australia and the Vickers Vimy aircraft now housed at Adelaide Airport. Lainie was South Australia’s Epic Flight Centenary 2019 program ambassador.

Using war diaries, letters and Churchill Fellowship research from along the race route, Lainie’s Long Flight Home recreates one of the most important – and largely forgotten – chapters in world aviation history.

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