A change in lifestyle has led to another career for two people from very different backgrounds. Although both were born, and largely educated in Sydney, Suzanne grew up between country and city and John spent much of his early years in UK and Europe.
First meeting in Armidale, they and their families, finding they had many common interests in the arts and politics, developed a long lasting friendship.
In his youth John Burless worked for newspapers and studied anthropology, concurrently developing his passion for language and English literature. For over twenty years he was closely associated with administration in the Gulf Country, Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait. For many years he acted as Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on the preservation of Aboriginal material culture and travelled widely throughout the Far North and North West of Queensland.
Then he and his and family went bush, and bought land in southeast Queensland where he still lives.
Suzanne, artist, journalist/writer was born into the era of bush children who rode a horse to a one-teacher school, and lived on a mixed farming property in northwest NSW. An avid reader from an early age, she read her way through her mother’s extensive book collection as well her boarding school library. Suzanne worked for many years in P.R., advertising, promotional writing and publication design and as a magazine editor. For some time she taught English as a second language with Adult Migrant Education in Victoria and NSW.
Seeking a tree change, wanting to get out of big cities she and her husband moved to the north coast hinterland forests for some years, earning their living with the pen and the camera, and also travelling in north Queensland and Torres Strait. The next major change was into the interesting but hectic life of politics, as wife of a Federal MP. Life after Parliament meant another big change in lifestyle, which allowed a return to her lifelong compulsion to “make things”.
Now, the latest career development in the often changing lives of these two people has been an unusual collaboration in the production of a historical novel. Based on the early European settlement and development of the Gulf Country in Queensland during the years 1891 to 1927 – a time of great change for Australia, this story is of a family which lived through droughts, financial depression, two wars, the aftermath of war, and successfully survived to contribute much to their country. The lifelong fascination of both authors with Australian history, and the desire to acquaint other people with some its lesser known aspects in an easily readable way, resulted in years of dogged research and many rewrites before the book was finished and accepted by a publisher.
Suzanne and John both say they have been very grateful for the wonderful patience and support of their respective spouses during the long haul to get the book, Plains of Fortune, to publication in November 2008.
They also say, it’s never too late to make a change in life
“Plains of Fortune “ is being launched by Tim Fisher in Brisbane on November 13 and will be in selected bookshops after that date. If you would like a copy, you can go to the Publisher’s website at www.ginninderrapress.com.au