TONY BROOKS
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Born in England, Tony Brooks
served in the Royal Navy and then trained as a teacher. He studied French
at the Sorbonne. His degree is in Educational Drama. His scripts have been
performed and presented on stage, radio, and in film form both here and in
the United States.
His novel, ‘First of All’, about the reformer, Catherine Helen
Spence was published by Axiom Press in 1995 and re-printed in 2001. In 1994
his play, ‘Games’ received an Advertiser award as the best new
play of the year. His novel about the blackbirding era was published on the
internet. In 2001 his full length play with music, ‘Ice’, based
on the love letters of Douglas and Paquita Mawson was given a production by
Opus Performing Arts Company at the prestigious Noarlunga Theatre.
Tony has now written a trilogy of novels based on TV scripts, ‘Curve
of the Earth’, set on the Yorke Peninsula, which has had three print
runs. In 2005 his one act play, ‘Honest John’, set about the great
drivers’ strike of 1910, won the South Australian Hills Drama Festival.
In 2007 he brought out his novel, ‘Halfway Human’ based on events
in the penal colony of Norfolk Island, with a modern story line developed
from his own experiences as a tutor at Yatala Labour Prison.
Cheques or money orders should be sent to:
Tony Brooks
11 Watcombe St
Moana
South Australia 5169
Books include:
CURVE OF THE EARTH – A TRILOGY
For over 60 years in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, thousands of Cornish migrants to South Australia devoted their lives to the huge mines that became the world's richest source of copper.
Set in the harsh tribal lands of the Naranga Aboriginal people on the Yorke Peninsula, the great pits of Moonta and Wallaroo poured tens of millions of pounds into the coffers of the cash-strapped infant state.
Curve of the Earth is a sweeping saga that brings that vibrant era back to life. It follows the tangled loves of the beautiful young Cornish/Welsh girl, Glynis, whose life becomes enmeshed in the hopes, struggles and heartbreaks of three generations of two very different Cornish families.
The drama of the rise and fallof
the mines creates a backdrop for the complex and passionate existence of the
Pencarrows and Tregarareths. Powerful figures from history range through
the tales. The characters confront the challenges of war, political
struggle, massive social change and the constant battle to create a good new
life in this brave new world.
The Far Side of the Reef
‘The Far Side of The Reef’ is an extraordinary adventure romance, set in the nineteenth century, at a blood-soaked time that has now become infamous as the era of the Blackbirders.
On the Island of Oba in 1907 we see the shooting and axing to death of the gentle missionary, Charles Godden. Mary Godden begs the planter and trader, Ross Lewin to explain why she has lost her love.
Lewin was for many years a successful
‘recruiter’ of native labour.
Ross’ life is shaped by his struggle to rise out of his low beginnings
in the slums of Sydney, and his overwhelming love for Miranda, the daughter
of one of Queensland’s richest merchants and landowners.
In a bizarre love triangle, his rival for Miranda’s affections is a man whom he truly loves and admires. The Reverend John Patton, a childhood friend, and now the bishop of the Islands.
John tries to defend his childlike parishioners. But Ross is dragged deeper and deeper into the morass that too often closely resembles slavery. Miranda and Ross’ love seems fated by the furore and scandals surrounding the ‘recruiting trade’.
The Islands descend into a maelstrom of slavery and murder into which the hopelessly entwined friends and lovers are inexorably drawn. The climax of the love triangle seems somehow at one with the destruction of the Islanders’ culture.
Halfway Human
Dominic and Margaret are cousins
who fall in love. They have a common ancestor, the Irish convict, Laurence
Frayne. As this shadowy figure from the awful times on Norfolk Island becomes
more real to them, the two become fascinated by the man’s character
and his experiences under the regimes of the monstrous sadist, Morisset and,
in stark contrast that of the humanitarian, Andrew McConochie.
Interwoven with this story from the past is a modern tale of a convict, guilty
of awful crimes who, like Frayne seeks the chance to return to the world.
‘Halfway Human’ puts to you the question, is our penal system
a process of reformation or is it society’s demand to be revenged.
