'In reminiscences and family matters handed down, few are written and fewer published, and they are distorted by ignorance and surmise. The reprints of Miles Franklin's 'Childhood in Brindabella' cannot convey the experience of the three months that it took in the 1840s for a family to move from near the Raby of Thomas Mitchell south of the Campbelltown road junction with the Hume Highway to that place in the deep bush. Now it is a few hours’ drive. The day-to-day reality of the old treks is beyond our experience or understanding.' (Publication abstract)
'One of my favourite stories concerns two Liberal Party politicians, both of whom were later knighted. One of them was arguably Australia's most hopeless and devious prime minister, William ("Billy") McMahon. He was in office from March 1971 until December 1972, when the coalition lost office to Labor under Gough Whitlam - who had famously described McMahon as "Tiberius with a telephone". The second was James ("Jim") Killen, who liked more than an odd beer on a hot day and had served as Minister for the Navy under John Gorton. When McMahon became PM, he dropped Killen from the ministry.' (Introduction)
