A review of Goulburn's Deliverance by Grant Rodwell

story of the triumph of the human spirit

WARREN BREWER HOBART MERCURY

TITLE: GOULBURN'S DELIVERANCE AUTHOR: GRANT RODWELL PUBLISHER: SID HARTA PUBLISHERS 2008 ($24.95) REVIEWER: WARREN BREWER HOBART MERCURY 20 MAY 2009 Tasmanian-based academic Grant Rodwell is a prolific writer, researcher, and social commentator. This is his fourth novel. He may have slipped under the radar of some commentators and reviewers and 1 would contend deserves a higher profile among his contemporaries. His writing is eloquent, entertaining and authentic. It has raw and racy quality about it that reflects the people and events of that tough early period in Australian history. He has clearly mastered the historical fiction genre as evident in Goulburns Deliverance His works are characterized by a deep sense of compassion for those who have suffered and striven under the harshness of the early colonial justice administration and a divisive and privileged class system. This particular book is more sharply focussed than his previous works. It is about the survival of one young man in the New South Wales penal system in the late nineteenth century We may have considered the contemporary horror prisons Abu Ghraive and Guantanomo Bay to be harsh. This story will cause readers to reflect on the inhumanity of our early prisons. Michael Fitzpatrick is the central character. He is the twenty two year old second son of Irish immigrants and has inherited their distrust of authority. His intelligence and aptitude for numbers however has earned him a position of trust in the General post Office in Sydney in the money orders and registered mail branch. His best friend and fellow Irish Catholic is workmate Wayne Foley. By chance they meet another fellow countryman and stable hand from a leading racing stable in Sydney. He passes on the occasional tip on the races with astounding accuracy. So the gambling seed is sown. Fitzpatrick and Foley rapidly accumulate a substantial financial stake and become so adept at the gambling game they decide to take out a bookmakers licence at Royal Randwick as a part time interest. Their families and fellow workers are nervous and envious observers. The 1899 Melbourne Cup Carnival is imminent and the now confident, even cocky, young men decide to take on the big time in Melbourne and they join the flood of train travellers south. Predictably they indulge heavily in the heady high life of Melbourne Cup week. They attract some female companions and Michael becomes smitten by his first love. Strangely this brief and broken liaison endures and ultimately becomes an important part of his life story. Their adventurous and showy bookmaking activities soon attract the attention of very wealthy gamblers and a competitive wagering war emerges in the betting ring. Their bravado and overconfidence becomes their undoing. Fitzpatrick and Foley make some huge wins early in the carnival but ultimately their luck runs out and they lose the lot! Shattered, distraught and destitute, they made the painful trip home. Their minds turned to a desperate plan to retrieve their fortunes. It involved Michael Fitzpatrick making a tentative approach to a dodgy Sydney printer to investigate the possibility of forging money orders. Although no crime, as yet, had been committed, Michael's approach to the printer is exposed to the police. Foley betrays his friend to escape his own imprisonment. Then an incompetent and alcoholic lawyer and politically ambitious and zealous judge contrive to commit him to a sentence of seven years in the dreaded Goulburn Gaol. It really was an outrageous penalty even for those times, but nothing could be done... This is when the substance of this story emerges. The latter half of the book describes the privations, cruelty and hardships Michael endured at that notorious prison. It also reveals his clever adaptation to that regime and the power of his psychological resilience that eventually lead to his release and redemption. His is a story of the triumph of the human spirit . It’s a fully engaging and entertaining book that carries some strong moral messages.

Goulburn's Deliverance

Young Aussie, Michael Fitzpatrick, is an intelligent lad with a promising future at the Sydney General Post Office. Read more about “Goulburn's Deliverance”