At the end of 19th century, Finland is a dark and repressive place. Pacifist and political dissenter Karl Johan Back is conscripted to fight for the Russian despots that occupy his country. In 1899 he flees to an untamed land on the far side of the world. Finding refuge on ridges overlooking the Byron Bay lighthouse in northern New South Wales, he grows orchids and lush tropical fruit.
In 1903, he is joined by brother Wilhelm ("WA", the author's grandfather.) This saga traces the brothers' struggles from frozen Finland to the lush rainforests of northern New South Wales, to the dry and dusty sheep country of western Queensland, the highs and lows of their new life under the Southern Cross.

Introduction to "Midnight Sun To Southern Cross" Trilogy

My spine prickled with presentiment when we drove onto the ferry. It forged a passage through the ice from Sweden across the
Gulf of Bothnia to Finland–my grandfather's birthplace.

 The past drew me onward like a magnet to the land of the northern lights, its force invisible and mysterious.

The Frozen Highway–Chapter 1 of Burn My Letters

Imagine building a house with an elevator in it in 1950 Brisbane suburbia! I grew up as "a granddaughter of the man who built a lift in his house." Yet, even subsequent owners, Dame Quentin Bryce, former Governor General of Australia, and he husband Michael knew nothing of the heritage of the Art Deco Mansion. I told Michael when he invited me to visit.

The Art Deco Mansion in St Lucia

Art Deco Mansion In St Lucia–Quentin And Michael Bryce

St Lucia, the Brisbane suburb famed for its university campus, emerged despite world wars, Spanish Influenza and Depression. In the 1950s, kangaroos hopped across open paddocks; snakes slithered through scrub and sugar cane fields. The sanitary cart, ice man, milkman and whistle-tooting postman traversed rutted dirt roads to service the community. And, each morning, sun-warmed milk churned the stomachs of the students at Ironside State School.
Then, as bold new scaffolding reached for the sky, people watched, amazed, and asked Who could build this huge mansion—with an elevator in it—when rationing still exists?

The Elevator - The Art Deco Mansion in St Lucia

Fate led this 3rd generation #Australian #Finland-Swede to live in #Umeå, #Sweden, across the Gulf of Bothnia from Grandad's birthplace in #Munsala, Finland. Imagine the thrill to discover my #heritage! Share my journeys around the glove–and those of my forebears!

The Elevator - The Art Deco Mansion in St Lucia

Ruth Bonetti

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