The first of two version of this scene, painted by Alphonse Pellion, showing Rose and Jose in the doorway of Rose’s tent at Shark Bay

Momentum is building around the story of Rose de Freycinet with the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Freycinet Collection at the State Library of Western Australia.

In October 2003 the Freycinet Collection, bought by Alan Bond from the previous Baron de Saulses de Freycinet, came up for auction in London. A dedicated band of people, who are interested in the history of Western Australia, raised funds from various sources and set off for London. Amongst the collection of artwork, surveys, maps and journals being offered for sale was the first map of the lower reaches of the Swan River. It was made by Louis de Freycinet while he was Baudin’s Lieutenant on board the Nautaliste and was the most valuable piece on offer. The WA group knew that the funds they had raised would not be enough to purchase the whole collection, so they were careful in their bidding and focused on pieces that were relevant to Western Australia. Among the works they chose were two pictures by Alphonse Pellion who was the official artist on board the Uranie. Against his Commander’s orders Pellion had shown Rose de Freycinet and her Mauritian pupil in the doorway of Rose’s distinctive conical tent, pitched on this occasion in the barren landscape of Shark Bay. Since Rose’s presence on the voyage was not to be mentioned in official communications of any kind, Louis was outraged and took Pellion to task. The artist then produced a much less attractive black and white representation of the same scene. The doorway of Rose’s tent in the second version is completely empty.

Along with Rose’s own detailed descriptions these two images bring graphically to life not only the landscape but the culture and attitudes of the French Navy at that time, and the courage needed to venture into unexplored places so far from home. Also depicted in the first of Pellion’s two versions of this scene is the experimental still which was carried aboard the Uranie to desalinate sea water and make it safe for drinking. This still was the cause of several fires on board during the trials carried out at sea. Rose declared that they would all be drowned by this dreadful contraption, but she changed her mind when they arrived in Kupang and Louis carried some of the distilled water ashore, for their personal use. The local water caused an outbreak of dysentery amongst the crew and Rose was pleased to have escaped the debilitating and sometimes life-threatening illness.

While researching West Australian ghosts for my next novel I have come across some very interesting, and real, characters from the early days of settlement in the Swan River Colony. There was Sophia Dent whose family arrived in 1829 aboard the Marquis of Anglesea. This was the second ship to arrive in the Colony carrying settlers from England. But while it was anchored in Gage Roads, near the mouth of the Swan River, a sudden storm blew up and drove the ship onto the rocky shore where it immediately started to fill up with water. Elizabeth Dent, who was in the last stages of pregnancy, went into labour and her husband, Thomas, waded ashore with her in his arms. Sophia was born on the beach a short time later. She was the first female child born in the Colony.

I suppose that, coming into the world in the way that she did, Sophia’s life was always destined to be tempestuous. In 1847 she married William Charles Ellery, an American whaler, and they had six children. Will Ellery worked on a boat that ferried goods up and down the Swan River. One fateful day in 1860, on a return trip to Fremantle, the boat’s boiler blew up and Will was tragically killed. Within a year Sophia had married William (Flash Jack) Mitchell, but her family didn’t approve of Flash Jack and disowned her. The couple left Fremantle and travelled north. They settled at Irwin, near Geraldton, where Sophia had two more children.

Linked as they are by exceptional circumstances to the mouth of the Swan River, do the ghosts of Sophia Dent and Will Ellery still visit? Some say they do, just as the ghosts of Black Jack Anderson and Dolly Petit still visit Albany. In the next few weeks I am hoping to find out more so, if you like ghost stories, stay tuned.

The ghost of Dolly Petit has been seen sitting in front of this fireplace in her Albany house.

Shaun Tan signing books at The Literature Centre in Fremantle

The school holidays can provide an opportunity to look at other people’s stories and how they can be presented in different ways.

Spare Parts Puppet theatre has based their new production on Shaun Tan’s collection of short stories from Tales from Outer Suburbia. In a wonderfully innovative and exciting production they have brought to life the everyday world of suburbia, but with some very surprising twists. There is the familiar incident of a boy’s ball which goes over the fence of a grumpy neighbour – but when it is thrown back to him it has been cut in half! And the irregular appearance of an enormous water buffalo that lives in the long neglected buffalo grass on the vacant block. There are the scraps of paper, discarded and forgotten, which gravitate towards each other and form an enormous ball of writing. And the stick people who appear, dropping from the trees after storms or strong winds. Who are they? Why have they come? What do they want? Along with the other computer generated and lighting effects that add to the ethereal feel of the play, the eyes of these stick figures, glowing brightly, stare at us  in the audience and seem to ask the same questions. Who are we? Why are we here? What do we want?

My answer is, ‘I’m here to stretch my mind and exercise my imagination.’ Yet again, the team at Spare Parts has come up with a way to adapt a very complex and unusual text to make it accessible entertaining and moving for people of all ages.