Books

Planting Memories Book Launch

Anthea Matley, author of Planting Memories launched in Castlemaine

Peter Wiseman, Anthea Matley, and Katherine Seppings (Sevenpens) with Anthea.

Planting Memories by Anthea Matley launched in Castlemaine by Peter Wiseman, Bendigo TAFE professional writing and editing teacher and coordinator. Katherine Seppings (Sevenpens) edited, designed and published this book.

Planting Memories is tightly edited and a pleasure to read. Anthea’s writing is a matchless evocation. The stories are told beautifully in the voices of her family members. I commend this book to anyone who enjoys intimate biographies and creative non-fiction, and those interested in the history of Papua. I congratulate Anthea on completing a mammoth task so well and her team for a truly professional publishing project.’ – Peter Wiseman

Planting Memories follows the life of Culver Matley who left his drought-ravaged prairie home in Punnichy, Canada, in 1935, and sailed to an unknown life on the island of Samarai and then to the Sogeri Plateau of Papua New Guinea.

Culver lived and worked on rubber plantations in Papua for 33 years. During WW2, he served as a driver mechanic with the 68 Light Aid Detachment in the Middle East. He met his wife, Margaret, an Australian Air Force nurse in PNG and together they built a home and raised a family of five children on the Mororo and Eilogo plantations.

Based on family letters, photographs, and memories, Planting Memories recounts many incidents that made up daily life in the PNG mountains. But as their adopted country faced the political and economic challenges of the 1960s, Culver and Margaret reluctantly decided to leave their home and move to Australia.

Author Bio –

Anthea Matley was born in Moresby and grew up on a rubber plantation on the Sogeri Plateau, Papua New Guinea, immigrating to Australia in 1968. She has a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing and has assisted in producing and publishing Kidnapped by Time, a history of the Faraday area. Anthea has written short stories and poetry and Planting Memories is her first creative non-fiction book. She lives in Elphinstone.

To Purchase – Planting Memories is available through the author’s website Here

The Story of Rod Wells Book Launch

Katherine Seppings, Lynette Silver AM, Tim Bowden AM, Pamela Wells
Katherine Seppings and Pamela Wells

Lynette Silver AM (military advisor), Katherine Seppings (publisher), Tim Bowden AM (book launcher)

A fantastic launch of The Tiger has Many Lives: The Story of Rod Wells by Pamela Wells at Victory Hall, Tatura, Vic; released on Anzac Day. It was an honour to edit, design and publish (Sevenpens) this biography of a POW survivor and to have worked with military advisor Lynette Silver AM.

From an early age in the Goulburn Valley, Rod Wells had a passion for wireless technology. He served in Malaya and Singapore as an officer with 8 Division Signals. As a prisoner of war in Borneo’s Sandakan, he used his ingenuity and skill to build a wireless radio and a transmitter virtually from scratch. Arrested by the Kempeitai, Rod was subjected to brutal torture before being tried and sent to the notorious Outram Road Gaol. After the war Rod became a world expert in electronics and neuclonics.

“The story of Rod Wells is a remarkable tale of determination, endurance and survival in WW2. As one of the few first-hand accounts of POW life in Borneo’s Sandakan Camp and the equally infamous Outram Road Gaol in Singapore, this book will be a valuable addition to the nation’s military heritage.”
Lynette Silver AM, military historian

Available for purchase here.

Book launched by Tim Bowden AM, Victory Hall, Tatura.
Author, Pamela Wells.

The Tiger has Many Lives: The Story of Rod Wells

The Tiger has Many Lives: The Story of Rod Wells
by Pamela Wells
Sevenpens Publishing (2022)

Available Here

The Story of Rod Wells is a remarkable tale of determination, endurance and survival in WW2. Rod had a passion for wireless technology and served in Malaya and Singapore as an officer with 8 Division Signals. His nightmare began in 1942 when Singapore fell to the Japanese, allied forces surrendered, and he became a prisoner of war.
Sent to Sandakan in British North Borneo, Rod joined a local underground movement. Using his ingenuity and skill he built a wireless radio and also a transmitter virtually from scratch. In July 1943, when the underground was betrayed, Rod was arrested by the Kempeitai and subjected to brutal torture before being tried and sent to Outram Road Gaol in Singapore.
Rod Wells returned to civilian and academic life to become a world expert in electronics and neuclonics. His remarkable life was defined by his determination, his will to live, his self-discipline and unfailing optimism. Rod’s story is one of extraordinary inspiration and exceptional achievements, highlighting his ability to overcome extreme hardship by never giving up.

‘As one of the few first-hand accounts of POW life in Borneo’s Sandakan Camp and the equally infamous Outram Road Gaol in Singapore, this book will be a valuable addition to the nation’s military heritage.’
Lynette Silver AM, military historian

‘It is hard to imagine a more creative person than Rod Wells. From boyhood he pushed the boundaries of discovery and his genius came to the fore as an adult. Had he lived in an earlier era, Rod may well have invented the wheel.’
David Matthews

The Illustrator by Jill Barclay

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The Illustrator by Jill Barclay (2018)

Published by Sevenpens 2018

The Illustrator is based on Jill Barclay’s real grandmother, a woman who just disappears. All her life Eileen is sure of one thing – her love of drawing and the desire to be a commercial artist. In the 1920s, Eileen’s talents are well recognised in the Goulburn Valley where she is a farmer’s daughter, but this is a place and time when women can only be wives, mothers and homemakers. A woman choosing a career over her husband and baby is unheard of.

‘Written with an acute eye for the period and a sympathy for the distressing choices a woman might be forced to make The Illustrator offers an alternative history for being female and not ordinary in the first half of last century.’ Helen Elliott

‘Time and place are brilliantly evoked in Jill Barclay’s The Illustrator, which opens in rural Victoria and moves on to Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. The novel traces the unpredictable life journey of a young woman who resists conventional expectations. Deftly shaped and written with imaginative power, this haunting novel confronts us with the mystery of a self-driven personality.’ Brenda Niall

‘Jill Barclay’s The Illustrator demonstrates such richness of imagination, the writing is evocative and full of charm, and the story crackles with unforgettable moments – I was immediately transported.’ Louise Swinn

Available to purchase at Jill Barclay Books