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Leonora Gaerth was a foster child, and her younger brother, Landor, was adopted. They grew up in the coalmining town of Collie in the southwest of Western Australia. Leonora showed exceptional talent and skills as a dressmaker before winning a scholarship to Modern School in Perth where she matriculated and went on to study law at the University of Western Australia. Landor was often used as a tailor's dummy for Leonora's projects. His big sister kept him interested by teaching him how to cut and stitch and rewarded him by painting his fingernails for the first time. Landor became a plumber's apprentice and met 'Ginger' Sutherland when he was assigned to Ginger's garage and workshop project. Ginger taught Landor the pugilistic arts. A murder at Minninup Pool in Collie threatened to derail both siblings' lives.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939. Landor volunteered for the Royal Australian Navy and saw action in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the crew of HMAS 'Parramatta' II before his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. With seven of his shipmates Landor was plucked from the sea by the Germans and spent the last three and a half years of the war in a German prisoner of war camp, Stalag 334.
After the war Landor was reunited with his successful barrister sister in Perth, Western Australia. Leonora reveals what she knows of their joint histories. Landor seeks to find out who his biological parents were. All is revealed at Landor Station near Meekatharra. Landor now knows who he is and in what direction he wants to take in life.
About the author
Jeff Hopkins (1950) is a retired schoolteacher. He lives in Walyalup, Western Australia. Walyalup which means 'lungs' is the Whadjuk name for Fremantle, and is part of the Noongar Nation. As the drama master at Hale School in Perth, he wrote ten original musical plays and produced and directed them at the school. In 1992, he researched and wrote a family history, 'Life's Race Well Run', and after retiring in 2006 he has written seventeen novels, a memoir, and three 'faction' biographies.
