TALES OF A LESS COMPLICATED TIME

SUNSHINE COAST AUTHOR PATTY BEECHAM DUG INTO HER CHILDHOOD GROWING UP IN ROCKHAMPTON FOR HER LATEST BOOK.

When the dreaded COVID lockdowns hit in 2020 poet and author Patty Beechman set herself a task.

"I determined to publish three books. I knew two of them would be poetry (simply to keep my vast collection all together) and I wasn't sure what the third would be," Beecham said.

"Someone had tagged me on a Facebook group called Rockhampton Remember."

Beecham said she responded by writing a couple of stories about her dad, Canon John Warby OAM, who, as a local Anglican priest, had presided over the marriages of a lot of the members of the Facebook group.

The response prompted the decision to turn the focus on to her own early years and the novel - Growing Up, Rocky: A Rockhampton Childhood was born.

"This is the book that the Facebook Group 'Rockhampton: Remember When' encouraged me to write," Beecham says.

"Without their gentle and persistent encouragement, this book would never have been written.

"These stories are the skipping stones of my life. A little from here and there, until the end is reached. Think of this book like a patchwork quilt, with stories and timelines gently overlapping.”

Beecham grew up living within the five Aboriginal tribes of Cape York, and Rockhampton and Central Queensland.

“This my story of an innocent childhood in a fractured family as we learn to live with each other, only to be torn apart after a tragic accident," she said.

"It's a Coming-of-Age story with my dad, Canon John Warby, OAM, as a community leader and Anglican priest.

"It's a look back in time and reminiscing of a softer, kinder world, dealing with the changing world of the '70s, and growing up in a small country town.

"It's a story of survival, overcoming bullies, and bringing myself up. It’s an Every Woman’s story."

The story begins in the early 1960s with the family living on the Lockhard River Mission.

The remote lifestyle meant Patty's three siblings were only home for about six weeks a year, spending the majority of their time away at boarding school - in fact it was only when she was four that her whole family lived together.

As society changes, television arrived, and the Pill, so do does the dynamic of Patty's family who tragically face the unthinkable with the unexpected death of Patty's younger brother.

It captures the life of a girl who's Mum, Bunty Warby, ran the local corner shop in Keppel Sands while her father presided over a local congregation and all the events that went with that role.

Beecham says she has been overwhelmed by the local support for the book.

She sold out of her first run of 350 copies in just 10 days and is now well into the second print run, with the book available locally at Annie's Books at Peregian Beach, at Rosetta Books at Maleny or online at www. pattybeechamproductions.com

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