Thirty-two award-winning short stories from the Stringybark 'Times Past' Short Fiction Awards entertainingly brings Australian history to life. From gentlemen bushrangers and destitute children to the impact of The Pill, and women being allowed in pubs, these true stories will delight, challenge and intrigue you. Written by some of Australia's best contemporary short story writers, as well as new and emerging authors, each tale illuminates a neglected part of Australia's history.
"When Janine found out a ‘flying trapeze workshop’ was being offered as one of the events at the first ever Sydney Festival, she thanked her lucky stars and expressed her joy with dance… all over the furniture, bouncing around the lounge room like a possum in a cement mixer. The half-filled ashtray and tarot deck went flying across the room as she vaulted over the coffee table, interrupting her flat mate from his studies."
— from "Buckley’s Chance" by Mark Luntungan
"I was seven-years-old when my mother was taken by Death. When the fever came upon her, I lit two candles and placed one on the window sill looking onto the street; the other I placed on the small table by Mother’s bed so that I could see to bathe her face. I was careful to keep it away from the cradle where baby Mary Ann cried and fretted. I had given the baby a rag to suck soaked in a little sugared water, but she would not take it. Her tiny body was burning up too even though the evening was cold."
— from Neglected by Beverley Lello
