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Cover of the book
Bush Scenes
(not from these book~click to enlarge)Aboriginal police of the late 1800'stypical Australian bush scene

About the Book

Introducing "Stone Country"...
a novel by Walda L Schöller

A thrilling story of revenge, love and survival in the harsh pioneering days of late 19th century Australia. A narrative of the inter-mingling lives of an Austrian aristocrat hiding from his dubious past and about the struggle for acceptance by a half-caste aboriginal girl. Their search together for a new life and fortune finds them battling for their very existence on the Sapphire Fields of Anakie and facing the mixed fortunes of life on the land. (Available only from the author. (If you would like this book or one of my other titles, please click [Here] or on the "BOOK SHOP"button in the menu bar above.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The daughter of a New South Wales north-coast timber getter, Walter Robert Fawcett and Martha Elizabeth Mackay. Walda L. Scholler was born in Sydney in 1940, and was educated at St. Augustine's Convent School in Coff's Harbour. Upon leaving school, Walda worked for an accountancy firm in the town, later travelling to Sydney where she decided to live. Leaving the city behind, Walda worked in New Guinea, and returned to Australia in 1961 where she married Erich Scholler. In the early 1970s, she, with her husband, Erich, and their two children, Adam and Belinda, travelled extensively throughout Australia. Having completed many thousands of kilometers on the road, the family settled down on the Anakie Gemfields, Queensland. Here, after three long years of sapphire mining, they built, owned and operated the "Gemseeker" gemstone and tourist centre in Anakie from 1979 to 1997. An enterprise which, for ten of those years, incorporated the Anakie Post Office.Walda wrote information brochures for visitors to the Sapphire Fields plus articles for many tourist magazines. During the 1980s she studied creative writing as an external student with James Cook University, Townsville.Walda L Scholler autographing a copy of her book Walda has also written two history books on the Anakie Sapphire fields. "Anakie - The Sapphire Fields of Central Queensland" (1985) and "Images of the Anakie Sapphire Fields" (1993). In 1985 she was appointed book officer for the Anakie State School centenary celebrations (1885-1985). That history being printed by the School as a Centenary project. In 1987, she co-authored a history of her Mother's Scottish clan family which became a prelude to the McKay/MacKay family reunion held at Macksville (NSW) in 1988. In 1997 the business was sold. Walda and Erich retired to Harvey Bay in Queensland.

Preface

The Archer family played a large role in the development of the Rockhampton district - their lives have no part in this novel however, Neusiedler, the homestead of this book is loosely based on an Archer family homestead built by Colin Archer in 1858. The run was originally known a Farris (1854) and located seven miles west of Rockhampton - it was later named Gracemere in honour of Thomas Archer's wife, Grace.* Today, Gracemere is a thriving community on the outskirts of Rockhampton.

Stone Country" is true to the spirit and nature of Central Queensland and is woven around some of Central Queensland's history but the characters, families, homesteads and many of the events portrayed, are imaginary.
There is no record of a massacre at Pink Lily nor at Anakie - these killings are fictional: the massacre of white settlers at Cullin-la-ringo in 1861 is fact.

The author is mindful of sensitivity regarding the use of derogatory terminology directed towards Aboriginal people however, these attitudes did not exist in the 19th century where the story takes place and the use of some words is in keeping with the language of the time.

Below are listed some of the events in Central Queensland history used as a backdrop for Stone Country: Immigration - the backbone of Central Queensland - many migrants were German; the use of Native Mounted Police to kill their own race in the name of the Law; the multiplicity of pastoral problems which beset early settlers - both to the east and in the west; the construction of the Great Western Railway to Anakie (1879); the discovery of sapphires at Retreat Creek (Anakie ca. 1875) and the quest to find markets for Queensland meat and precious stones.

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