Guest Speaker: Jock Serong

We had a much bigger audience than usual at our April meeting and this of course was due to the popularity of our guest speaker, the internationally acclaimed author, Jock Serong. We were very privileged to have Jock at our gathering. His talk was wonderful and definitely did not disappoint those who had been eagerly awaiting his visit to the Rye Historical Society.

Jock has a very diverse background. He was a lawyer and volunteered with the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service on the Bringing Them Home inquiry and did a stint in the Western Desert building a native title claim with the Martu people. Prue presented Janice with a copy of the Society’s Book of Memories in thanks. 12 He became a criminal barrister and worked with asylum seekers back when detention centres were onshore.

Jock has written seven novels and has received a number of literary awards. His talk centered mainly on his Furneaux Trilogy, (Preservation, The Burning Island, The Settlement ) based on historic events around the Furneaux Islands, situated in eastern Bass Strait. After his talk, Jock stayed around to chat to attendees over afternoon tea. Jock was very generous with his time and we were all very impressed, both with his knowledge and his friendliness.

Thank you, Jock! LW

—