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Can a Duck Swim?

Can a Duck Swim?

An autobiography

June Porter

Can a duck swim?' Young June Porter's reply was immediate when Lady Rutherford, wife of the Governor of Bihar, invited her to India to become her lady-in-waiting. This was in 1944, when June was twenty-five and the world was at war. Already, in Australia, she had met and married the dashing Tom Porter, who was then posted for special duties in India working for the Governor of Bengal.

Sailing serenely on a cargo ship through submarine-infested waters, June Porter arrived at last, entering the privileged and opulent society of the British Raj. This was a world of elephant rides, tiger shoots and luxurious dinner parties, a kind of life now lost to the realms of history.

Can a Duck Swim?, as Lady Porter writes, is an Alice in Wonderland tale, the true story of a girl from the suburbs of Perth transported 'to a mystical, exotic country to live in palaces with people who were making history, and to a life about which one only read or dreamt'.

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June Porter, born June Perry on 20 March 1919 in Melbourne, grew up in Perth. Always at the heart of the social scene, at the age of twenty she met and fell in love with polo-playing businessman Tom Porter. After a whirlwind courtship they married, and by curious twists of fate spent the last years of World War II in India. After the war, the Porters settled in Tom's home town of Adelaide, where Lady Porter took her place at the heart of public life, becoming Lady Mayoress between 1968 and 1971, and a founding board member of the Australian Ballet Company. Lady Porter lives now in North Adelaide, still determined to embrace every opportunity that comes her way.

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ISBN   9781743052013
CATEGORY   
IMAGES   Greyscale illustrations throughout
PAGE COUNT   200
DIMENSIONS   235 x 160 mm