All our tracks and ways - available October 2024
Stories
All our tracks and ways - available October 2024
Stories
This page brings together a range of memoirs and essays that illustrate particular episodes in the family's history. I also maintain a separate website for my activities as a published author - see www.jmfwriter.net. My current book is "All our tracks and ways" that provides a history of a pioneering Bourke family headed by James Reed and Frances Heazle, a devoted, resilient and resourceful couple whose lives of initiative and enterprise helped to forge a better future for their ten adult children and eighty-nine grandchildren. The main theme of this book aims is that the lives of ordinary people can illuminate the past in much the same way as those of society’s leaders.
Collected Stories
These are a few of the interesting stories from our history.
- An unfortunate family - UPDATED 2023 – The family of Mary Lahy experienced a Dickensian series of life's obstacles
- Bricks at dead of night – Grandfather Kessey played a key role in a fractious political incident
Croker Prize
In 2014 the Society of Australian Genealogists established the annual Croker Prize for Biography (named in memory of benefactors Colin and Loas Croker). The prize is awarded to the author of the best biographical essay submitted in accordance with whatever theme the judges choose for that year. Every financial member can submit one entry to the competition each year.
The following Croker Prize entries were written and submitted by James Michael Fleming. All relate to members of this family.
- 2022 - Frances Reed, pioneer of Bourke – about Frances Reed nee Heazle (1812-1895) who helped to forge a better life for her many descendants
- 2021 - Where the coolabahs grow – about William Isaac Kemp (1826-1897) who raised a family of sixteen in outback NSW
- 2020 - Showdown at the Blue Bell Inn – about Elizabeth Clarkson (1834-?), who left her husband and continues to elude researchers!
- 2019 - A Noble Harvest – about the influential Elizabeth Taylor (1831-1881) - Received a Highly Commended award
- 2018 - The Disappearing Boots – about the divorce of James Kessey (1858-1944) and Mary Jane Press (1867-1951)
- 2017 - Scrabbling in the dirt – about Mary Tobin (1818-1856), who suffered a tragic ending to a tough life
- 2016 - The Clan keeper – about Alice Clarkson Poulton (1860-1927), matriarch of the tight-knit Bowen clan
- 2015 - Looks like hopelessness – about Charles Fleming (1854-1928), who emigrated not once, but twice!
- 2014 - Criminal or Victim? – about John Kessey (c1836-1902), whose life was blighted by his upbringing
Bruce's stories
These autobiographical stories were written by Bruce Fleming (1929-2016).
1883 Diary facsimile
"Townsville or Hell!" is a facsimile copy of an emigration diary written on board "Eastern Monarch" during its voyage from Glasgow to Townsville in 1883. This journey was truly a rollicking yarn, including a wealth of incidents and some wonderful characters. The ship came close to a watery grave not once but twice; the captain faced down a mutiny; there were births and deaths; and finally the whole ship's company had to live for weeks in quarantine on Magnetic Island due to an outbreak of disease.
This book would interest descendants of anyone who was a passenger on this voyage of the "Eastern Monarch" and people interested in the history of Magnetic Island, Townsville or quarantine practices in Australia.
The diary was written by the editor's great-great-grandfather, Charles Fleming. The book contains additional photographs, maps and charts that provide context for the reader.
You can leaf through the pages of each book online by clicking on the relevant image (which takes you to blurb.com's site). From that site you can also buy a copy that will be printed by blurb.com and posted to you. You simply choose which type you want (softcover, hardcover, etc) and then click [Add to cart].
