On 31 August 1922, a Russian national, Alexander Zuzenko, was deported from Australia after being arrested in Melbourne as a Bolshevik spy. Zuzenko had travelled to Australia on a false Norwegian passport, via New Zealand, hoping to escape detection. Zuzenko believed that Australia in 1922 was ripe for a communist revolution. While in Australia, he helped establish the Communist Party in Melbourne and spoke at numerous gatherings, encouraging Melburnian workers to rebel against capitalism by burning down buildings, cutting telephone wires and shooting perceived enemies.
There were many articles in the newspapers in late 1922, discussing the threat of Russian Bolshevik spies in Melbourne, including interviews with Madame Varvara Kossovskaia, a Russian prima donna and a former soldier in the White Army, who said her life had been threatened by a secret society of Russian Bolsheviks in Melbourne.
Italians are the second-largest ethnic group in Melbourne after Anglo-Celtic Australians, with nearly half the Australians of Italian descent living in Melbourne. Italian migration to Australia increased markedly in the early 1920s, primarily with peasants from the northern regions escaping poverty and those opposed to the rise of fascism in Italy.
In 1922, the average male worked forty-six hours per week, and the average wage for factory workers was about four pounds per week (or two pounds per week for women). However, servants worked much longer hours, up to fifteen hours per day, from 5.00 or 6.00 am until 10.00 pm, for much less pay.
During the early 1920s, Australia was one of the few countries where most women could vote. Women in South Australia received the right to vote in 1895, with Australian women having the right to vote and stand for election in all states from 1902, although Indigenous Australians did not receive this right until 1962. All women could not vote in the USA until 1920 and the UK until 1928. Many European, African and Asian countries did not give women the vote until much later – France (1944), Italy (1945) and Switzerland (1971).
Edith Cowan, in 1921, was the first woman elected to an Australian parliament in Western Australia.
The national currency from 1910 until 1966 was based on pounds, shillings and pence. There were twelve pennies to a shilling, and twenty shillings to a pound.
Acknowledgements
There is something totally fascinating about walled gardens and abandoned houses. One of my favourite books as a child was The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett in 1910. Some of the ideas for The Lost Sapphire were inspired by this book, particularly family secrets and discord, and the idea of a girl and a boy, who initially don’t get on, building a friendship and being healed by bringing a lost garden back to life. The cheeky robin, who helped show the way into the garden, inspired my fairy wren.
The first idea of writing a book about an abandoned house was suggested to me by Leeza Wishart and her daughter Ella. The Wishart family, who love my books, raised money for me to visit their home town of Tenterfield in northern New South Wales, to visit a number of local schools and run writing workshops. While I was there, Leeza organised for me to be invited to visit Tenterfield Station homestead, the original homestead for the area established in the 1840s, which had been abandoned for many years and was slowly being restored. This old house was filled with history and stories – it was where Banjo Paterson met and later married one of the daughters of the station family, Alice Emily Walker, and the homestead is rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts of old tragedies.
I loved writing this book, particularly the vibrant history of the 1920s. Some of the books I used to research etiquette, entertaining and homes in this era included The House in Good Taste by Elsie de Wolfe, and Etiquette by Emily Post, written in 1922. For an insight into the experience of refugees fleeing the Russian Revolution, I studied several memoirs, including Russians in Exile by Valerian Obolensky, Lost Splendour by Felix Youssoupoff and The Russian Countess: Escaping Revolutionary Russia by Edith Sollohub.
Life in Melbourne during the 1920s was brought to life by newspaper articles, film clips and memoirs of wealthy debutantes, factory workers and servants. The Hamilton Glove factory was inspired by the Simpson’s Glove Factory, which was located on Victoria Street, Richmond, and its collection of artefacts held by Museum Victoria. Riversleigh was inspired by several old Melbourne mansions I visited, including Como House, Labassa, Balmerino and Rippon Lea.
My father’s family was originally from Melbourne, and I spent many long summer holidays playing and swimming on the banks of the Yarra River. More recently, I have explored this beautiful city on multiple trips, visiting old mansions and gardens; wandering the streets, laneways and markets; and eating food from many different cultural backgrounds, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, French and Russian. It is one of my favourite cities in the world!
A big thank you to my wonderful Random House marketing team, Dot Tonkin and Zoe Bechara, together with my illustrator, Serena Geddes, who have spent many hours showing me around Melbourne on book tours.
As always, enormous thanks go to my brilliant publishing team – publisher Zoe Walton, editor Brandon VanOver and agent Pippa Masson – who always have plenty of brilliant ideas, advice, suggestions and support. I have been working with them now for ten amazing years.
Much love and gratitude to my first readers and research assistants, Rob and Emily Murrell.
About the author
At about the age of eight, Belinda Murrell began writing stirring tales of adventure, mystery and magic in hand-illustrated exercise books. As an adult, she combined two of her great loves – writing and travelling the world – and worked as a travel journalist, technical writer and public relations consultant. Now, inspired by her own three children, Belinda is a bestselling, internationally published children’s author. Her previous titles include four picture books, her fantasy adventure series, The Sun Sword Trilogy, and her seven time-slip adventures, The Locket of Dreams, The Ruby Talisman, The Ivory Rose, The Forgotten Pearl, The River Charm, The Sequin Star and The Lost Sapphire.
For younger readers (aged 6 to 9), Belinda has the Lulu Bell series about friends, family, animals and adventures growing up in a vet hospital.
Belinda lives in Manly in a gorgeous old house overlooking the sea with her husband, Rob, her three beautiful children and her dog, Rosie. She is an Author Ambassador for Room to Read and Books in Homes.
Find out more about Belinda at her website:
www.belindamurrell.com.au
BOOKS BY BELINDA MURRELL
The Locket of Dreams
The Ruby Talisman
The Ivory Rose
The Forgotten Pearl
The River Charm
The Sequin Star
The Sun Sword Trilogy
Book 1: The Quest for the Sun Gem
Book 2: The Voyage of the Owl
Book 3: The Snowy Tower
For Younger Readers
Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn
Lulu Bell and the Fairy Penguin
Lulu Bell and the Cubby Fort
Lulu Bell and the Moon Dragon
Lulu Bell and the Circus Pup
Lulu Bell and the Sea Turtle
Lulu Bell and the Tiger Cub
Lulu Bell and the Pyjama Party
Lulu Bell and the Christmas Elf
Lulu Bell and the Koala Joey
Lulu Bell and the Arabian Nights
Lulu Bell and the Magical Garden
Lulu Bell and the Pirate Fun
THE LOCKET OF DREAMS
When Sophie falls asleep wearing a locket that belonged to her grandmother’s great-grandmother, she magically travels back to 1858 to learn the truth about the mysterious Charlotte Mackenzie.
Charlotte and her sister, Nell, live a wonderful life on a misty Scottish island. Then disaster strikes and it seems the girls will lose everything they love. Why were the sisters sent to live with strangers? Did their uncle steal their inheritance? And what happened to the priceless sapphire – the Star of Serendib?
Sophie shares in th
e girls’ adventures as they outwit greedy relatives, escape murderous bushrangers, and fight storm and fire. But how will her travels in time affect Sophie’s own life?
Shortlisted for the 2011 KOALA awards
OUT NOW!
THE IVORY ROSE
Jemma has just landed her first job, babysitting Sammy. It’s in Rosethorne, one of the famous Witches’ Houses near where she lives. Sammy says the house is haunted by a sad little girl, but Jemma doesn’t know what to believe.
One day when the two girls are playing hide-and-seek, Jemma discovers a rose charm made of ivory. As she touches the charm she sees a terrifying flashback. Is it the moment the ghost was murdered? Jemma runs for her life, falling down the stairs and tumbling into unconsciousness.
She wakes up in 1895, unable to get home. Jemma becomes an apprentice maidservant at Rosethorne – but all is not well in the grand house. Young heiress Georgiana is constantly sick. Jemma begins to suspect Georgiana is being poisoned, but who would poison her, and why? Jemma must find the proof in order to rescue her friend – before time runs out.
A CBCA Notable Book
OUT NOW!
THE FORGOTTEN PEARL
When Chloe visits her grandmother, she learns how close the Second World War came to destroying her family. Could the experiences of another time help Chloe to face her own problems?
In 1941, Poppy lives in Darwin, a peaceful paradise far from the war. But when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, then Australia, everything Poppy holds dear is threatened – her family, her neighbours, her friends and her beloved pets. Her brother Edward is taken prisoner-of-war. Her home town becomes a war zone, as the Japanese raid over and over again.
Terrified for their lives, Poppy and her mother flee to Sydney, only to find that the danger follows them there. Poppy must face her war with courage and determination. Will her world ever be the same again?
A 2013 KOALA awards Honour Book
OUT NOW!
THE RIVER CHARM
When artistic Millie visits a long-lost aunt, she learns the true story of her family’s tragic past. Could the mysterious ghost girl Millie has painted be her own ancestor?
In 1839, Charlotte Atkinson lives at Oldbury, a gracious estate in the Australian bush, with her Mamma and her sisters and brother. But after the death of Charlotte’s father, things start to go terribly wrong. There are murderous convicts and marauding bushrangers. Worst of all, Charlotte’s new stepfather is cruel and unpredictable.
Frightened for their lives, the family flees on horseback to a stockman’s hut in the wilderness. Charlotte’s mother and the children must fight to save their property, their independence and their very right to be a family. Will they ever return together to their beautiful home?
OUT NOW!
THE SEQUIN STAR
After her grandmother falls ill, Claire finds a sequin star among her treasures. Why does Claire’s wealthy grandmother own such a cheap piece? The mystery deepens when the brooch hurtles Claire back in time to 1932.
Claire finds herself stranded in the camp of Sterling Brothers Circus. She is allowed to stay – if she works hard. The Great Depression has made life difficult for everyone, but Claire makes friends with circus performers Rosina and Jem, and a boy called Kit who comes night after night to watch Rosina perform.
When Kit is kidnapped, it’s up to Claire, Rosina and Jem to save him. But Claire is starting to wonder who Kit and Rosina really are. One is escaping poverty and the other is escaping wealth – can the two find happiness together?
OUT NOW!
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Version 1.0
The Lost Sapphire
ePub ISBN – 9781925324129
First published by Random House in 2016
Copyright © Belinda Murrell, 2016
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.penguin.com.au
Addresses for the Penguin Random House group of companies can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com/offices.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Creator: Murrell, Belinda, author.
Title: The lost sapphire / Belinda Murrell.
ISBN: 9781925324129 (ebook)
Target Audience: For primary school age.
Subjects: Nineteen twenties – Juvenile fiction.
Melbourne (Vic.) – History – Juvenile fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover images: wren © Katarina Christenson/Shutterstock; mansion © Jon Bilous/Shutterstock; wisteria © Valery Sidelnykov/Shutterstock; flowers © Oleksandra Vasylenko/Shutterstock; girl © Aleshyn_Andrei/Shutterstock
Cover design: book design by saso
Ebook by Firstsource
The Lost Sapphire Page 25