The Opal Desert
Page 38
‘Of course, dear. I’d be upset if you didn’t. Open your present.’
Pam and Ingrid came forward to watch as Anna opened the little bag Kerrie handed her.
Anna simply stared, speechless, at the shining, glittering gem in the palm of her hand.
‘It’s the ring from Opal Lake!’ exclaimed Pam. ‘What a wonderful idea, Kerrie.’
‘I found it there when I first went to the lake,’ said Kerrie. ‘It had been there a long time, waiting for the right person to claim it. You conquered that lake, Anna, so I think you are the right person. I hope you enjoy it.’
‘I can’t accept it, it’s too much,’ said Anna, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the magnificent ring.
‘Wear it for Australia,’ said Tim firmly. Kerrie slipped it onto Anna’s finger, where it sat snugly. Kerrie and Shirley exchanged a smile.
‘I will,’ said Anna simply. ‘Thank you.’
Shirley turned to Kerrie and took her hand. ‘I was resigned to the fact that my days would fade quietly to black in my special hole in the ground. But knowing Stefan is never coming back has freed me to step outside into the world again. Thanks to you we have formed a bond, learnt from each other and our friendship will stay as bright as that opal ring.’ Shirley’s eyes looked as blue as the sky above, giving a sudden flash of the young girl she’d been.
‘Yes, Shirley, you’re right,’ said Kerrie. ‘Women friends are special. They can shape who we are and who we want to be. They support and nurture us and give us strength and comfort. Out here we’ve helped each other but let’s not wonder why it happened but just enjoy being the friends we are.’
Acknowledgements
To my children, Nick and Gabrielle, and my grandchildren, Sonoma, Everton and Bo, who light up my life.
To darling Boris, who loves opals and opal country, and suggested this book.
To James Fraser for sticking with me so staunchly these past twenty years (through twenty books!) as a friend and a publisher.
To Ian Robertson, who stepped into my life around book number eight and changed my professional life – for the better! – and continues to dispense advice, humour, friendship and good cheer.
To my good friend and editor, Liz Adams (and her lovely Richard), who’s unfailingly there for me every day, who occasionally shouts, but is never wrong, and stirs me to make each book better than the last. Thanks, Liz!
To all my wonderful friends of twenty years at Pan Macmillan, especially Ross Gibb, who signed me up twenty years ago, along with the ‘old hands’ – Roxy, Siv, Tracey, Sally, Leanne, Jeff, Mark and Joybelle!
Thanks once again to Rowena Lennox – your forensic copy editing is wonderful!
And to my loyal proofreader Ted Johnston, who told me some years back that life gets better in your nineties!
And thank you to the many friends I’ve come to know on the opal fields who’ve shared their knowledge over the years: Len Cram, Bob Barrett, Margie and Warwick Schofield, Robert White, Elizabeth Smith, Barbara Moritz, Graham Gibbons, Jeff Hood and Bill Robertson.
And to all the men and women on the opal fields and in the industry who shared their time and stories.
And special big thanks to John Murray for his wonderful artwork!
Di Morrissey is one of Australia’s most successful writers. She began writing as a young woman, training and working as a journalist for Australian Consolidated Press in Sydney and Northcliffe Newspapers in London. She has worked in television in Australia and in the USA as a presenter, reporter, producer and actress. After her marriage to a US diplomat, Peter Morrissey, she lived in Singapore, Japan, Thailand, South America and Washington. Returning to Australia, Di continued to work in television before publishing her first novel in 1991.
Di has a daughter, Dr Gabrielle Hansen, and Di’s son, Dr Nicolas Morrissey, is a lecturer in South East Asian Art History and Buddhist Studies at the University of Georgia, USA. Di has three beautiful grandchildren: Sonoma Grace, Everton Peter and William James Bodhi.
Di and her partner, Boris Janjic, live in the Manning Valley in New South Wales when not travelling to research her novels, which are all inspired by a particular landscape.
www.dimorrissey.com
Also by Di Morrissey
in order of publication
Heart of the Dreaming
The Last Rose of Summer
Follow the Morning Star
The Last Mile Home
Tears of the Moon
When the Singing Stops
The Songmaster
Scatter the Stars
Blaze
The Bay
Kimberley Sun
Barra Creek
The Reef
The Valley
Monsoon
The Islands
The Silent Country
The Plantation
First published 2011 in Macmillan
These electronic editions published in 2011 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000
Copyright © Lady Byron Pty Ltd 2011
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Morrissey, Di.
The opal desert / Di Morrissey.
9781742610351 (pbk.)
A823.3
ONL: 9781742628783;
AER: 9781742628790;
EPUB: 9781742628806
Typeset by Post Pre-press Group, Australia
Cover illustration by John Murray
Cover design by XOU
Chapter Illustrations by John Murray
Macmillan Digital Australia: www.macmillandigital.com.au
Visit www.panmacmillan.com.au to read more about all our books and to buy both print and ebooks online. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events.
Heart of the Dreaming
At twenty-one, Queenie Hanlon has the world at her feet and the love of handsome bushman TR Hamilton.
Beautiful, wealthy and intelligent she is the only daughter of Tingulla Station, the famed outback property in the wilds of western Queensland.
At twenty-two, her life lies in ruins. A series of disasters has robbed her of everything she ever loved. Everything except Tingulla – her ancestral home and her spirit’s Dreaming
place . . .
And now she is about to lose that too . . .
An extraordinary story of thwarted love and heroic struggle, HEART OF THE DREAMING is the tale of one woman’s courage and her determination to take on the world and win.
The Last Rose of Summer
A compelling story of two beautiful and remarkable women connected across the decades by the men who love them . . . and the magic of a place called Zanana.
KATE, a strong willed heiress determined to defy Edwardian convention, but she must pay the ultimate price to keep the home she loves so much . . .
ODETTE, an independent and idealistic young journalist caught in a fierce battle to save Zanana from ruthless developers . . .
Years apart yet inextricably linked by Zanana, the magnificent mansion they both love, these two striking women prove they are not afraid to fight for what they believe in.
From the turn-of-the-century India to contemporary Sydney, THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER is an epic story of love, possession and intrigue.
Follow the Morning Star
Queenie and TR return in Di Morrissey’s sequel to the bestselling HEART OF THE DREA
MING.
Queenie Hanlon has a perfect life. She’s the mother of two adoring children, the wealthy owner of a thriving outback station and the wife of handsome bushman TR Hamilton.
Then one day, Queenie’s perfect life comes crashing down . . .
Her bitter and vengeful brother returns from Italy to lay claim to his inheritance. Her precious daughter is seduced by her uncle into giving up all Queenie’s strived for. And her beloved TR, injured in a riding accident, can no longer recall the life they once shared.
FOLLOW THE MORNING STAR is a triumphant story of courage, strength and a rare and beautiful love that endures the test of time.
The Last Mile Home
It is 1953 in a small Australian country town, a time of postwar prosperity and hope.
The Holtens are wealthy, yet austere graziers who have lived on the land for generations. The McBrides are a large and loving shearer’s family who are new arrivals to the district.
When the McBrides’ eldest daughter falls in love with the Holtens’ only son and heir, it seems impossible that they can have a future together.
As conflict and tragedy confront them, it is only with great determination that their love can survive.
THE LAST MILE HOME is an unforgettable story of the power of enduring love.
Tears of the Moon
Broome, Australia 1893
In the wild passionate heyday of the pearling industry, and when young English bride Olivia Hennessy meets the dashing pearling master, Captain Tyndall, their lives are destined to be linked by the mysterious power of the pearl.
Sydney 1995
Lily Barton embarks on a search for her family roots which leads her to Broome. But her quest for identity reveals more than she could have ever imagined . . .
TEARS OF THE MOON is the spellbinding bestseller from Australia’s most popular female novelist.
‘Morrissey’s research into the pearl industry and the history of Broome is formidable . . . she tells a good story’
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
When the Singing Stops
The journey that changes her life . . .
A young Australian woman leaves Sydney for a new world . . . Guyana, South America.
Captivated by Guyana’s wild, unspoilt beauty, Madison Wright joins the native Amerindians struggling to preserve their culture against corporate exploitation. But her new-found commitment soon plunges Madison into a mire of murder, drug smuggling and political corruption. And finally, an unexpected love that pits her heart against her beliefs.
From Sydney’s sparkling harbour to the lush rainforests of South America, WHEN THE SINGING STOPS is a triumph of storytelling.
‘Morrissey is a gifted storyteller . . . well researched and evocatively written’
AUSTRALIAN BOOKSELLER & PUBLISHER
The Songmaster
A timely and profound novel that entrances and entertains.
In Melbourne, a baby girl is found abandoned in the Victorian Art Gallery. She is wrapped in a shawl decorated with a motif that links her to ancient rock paintings in the Kimberley . . .
In Los Angeles, a movie producer’s dying daughter is haunted by nightmares after visiting the Kimberley . . .
And it is to the Kimberley that ex-nun Beth Van Horton brings a disparate group of travellers whose lives will be changed forever.
The Kimberley – a land that cradles Australia’s ancient treasures – is also home to a people whose powerful secrets could unlock the future for modern mankind.
‘It’s daring, it’s controversial, it’s a great story and it’s unputdownable . . . what more can I say about THE SONGMASTER other than I wish I’d written it.’
BRYCE COURTENAY
Author
‘A rollicking yarn about aboriginal reconciliation? I’d like to read that! Well, here it is. A racy read, no pun intended. If you’ve been trying to fathom all those headlines about native title and blackfellas’ tears, do yourself a favour. Enjoy.’
RAY MARTIN
TV presenter
Scatter the Stars
Larrikin Australian actor Randy Storm had it all. Swept up by Hollywood after starring in a film set in Papua New Guinea, he had the looks, charm and talent – as well as the love of an exotic woman – to take on the world.
But that was the 1950s. In the ’90s he’s forgotten, burned out after a life of movie star excess and wild living.
When TV producer Michael Matthews bumps into the once great Randy Storm, he is surprised to find a man who is at peace with himself and his world. Both he and researcher Janie Callendar set out to discover the source of this inner peace. One person not surprised by Randy’s contentment is the woman who has stuck by him through the highs and the lows: his agent, Ariel Margoles. Ariel has never given up the dream of Randy making a comeback, so when she is called by Australia’s world acclaimed film director Patricia Jordan who is making the hottest Hollywood film of the year – Ariel sees the chance for Randy to be a star once more.
But just as he is about to reach his pinnacle, a secret from his past threatens to bring down his greatest triumph . . .
SCATTER THE STARS is a story of glamour, greed, loss and one man’s life that charts the path for all of us.
Blaze
ALI GRUBER, 28, is slick, smart, ambitious. She is determined to be editor of the New York edition of Blaze, the world’s most popular magazine. But fate intervenes, taking Ali back to the closely guarded secret of her Australian childhood.
NINA JANSOUS, 60, is the founder of the internationally famous Blaze. Croatian-born and Australian-raised, the elegant Nina is haunted by memories of the past. From New York to Sydney, Paris to Zagreb, Nina searches for the one person who can make her life complete.
LARISSA KELLY, 35, has everything – a prestigious publishing career and a loving man. But can the relationship survive when he’s a stockbroker in New York’s Greenwich Village, and she’s been posted to Blaze’s new magazine in Sydney, trying to soothe the staff reeling from the arrival of Ali, their new ruthless editor?
MICHE BANNISTER, 22, wants to be a journalist and follow in her late mother’s footsteps. In Paris, Miche infiltrates the champagne world of sixteen-year-old supermodel Jessica Shaw and finds, beyond the haute couture, a murky world of designer drugs and sexual abuse. And should she reveal what she uncovers when faced with her mother’s nemesis? It’s a hard choice between ethics and a sensational story that could make her name.
BLAZE is an intimate look at four women coping with their private and public lives in the world of magazines. A world where scheming and fox cunning seem to beat skill and talent, where sexism and ageism in office politics label women over thirty over the hill.
Absorbing. Biting. Funny. Real. BLAZE doesn’t pull punches.
The Bay
The Bay is a beautiful and peaceful town on the Australian east coast; a melting pot of city escapees, alternative lifestylers, feral dropouts, lost souls, backpackers, and men and women in search of love and a new sense of identity.
When Sydney corporate wife Holly Jamieson turns forty-five she shocks her husband by buying an old house in The Bay with plans to transform it into a charming B & B. What began as a gesture of independence changes her life. Holly soon discovers that beneath its tranquil surface, The Bay is a whirlpool of passions and conflict. It was once a whaling town, then a sleepy resort that became trendy, and now developers are moving in for the kill. Holly, her family, and an unusual band of new friends are in the battle lines – and not always on the same side.
This is a story of contemporary issues, but the ghosts of the past haven’t left town. The Bay captures the atmosphere of a unique place and its people so you can feel that you are there.
The Bay is a place to change your life.
Kimberley Sun
The remote town of Broome, the desert and the Kimberley coast – Australia’s last frontier and a land of ancient beauty – are the backdrop for Kimberley Sun, the sequel to Di Morrissey’s in
ternational bestseller, Tears of the Moon.
Lily Barton, now 53, is beautiful, adventurous and looking for a life change. Sami, her daughter, is driving alone through the outback to finally, reluctantly confront her family roots. Together they are swept into a world where legends, myths and reality converge, as they find that everyone they meet has a story to tell. From Farouz, the son of an Afghan camel driver, Bobby, the Chinese-Aboriginal man who is tangled in the murder of a German tourist, to Biddy, the survivor from Captain Tyndall and Olivia’s era . . . and who is the mysterious artist hiding in the desert?
All have a secret and a story to share as each finds their place under the Kimberley sun . . .
Barra Creek
In the wild Gulf country of northwestern Queensland, there’s a cattle station – Barra Creek – on a tributary of the crocodile-infested Norman River.
It’s 1963 and Sally Mitchell, the well-bred daughter of a wealthy New Zealand sheep farmer, is on her way to England with her friend Pru. When the young women stop over in Sydney their plans go awry. Sally impulsively takes a job as a governess at Barra Creek, and when the mail plane that flew her there takes off she finds herself left in a different world. One dominated by the overpowering John Monroe and his strict and proper wife Lorna.
Here Sally’s life changes forever. The challenges of coping with her three young charges, wild stockman, the heat and the Wet, brumby musters and cattle rushes all pale beside a great passion, a great loss and a gruesome death.
Only Lorna knows the truth of the death and of a terrible injustice. Now, in 2003, she searches for the former governess to finally set things right and share her horrific secret.
The Reef
On a small coral cay on the Great Barrier Reef two communities come together in an uneasy alliance: a tourist resort and a scientific research station.