My Written Journey

H1 – Charles Throsby and the Pastoral Expansion Southward 
Dr Charles Throsby arrived in the Colony of NSW in 1802. He was a lesser known but notable pioneer Explorer, Commandant, Grazier, Magistrate, Road Builder and Member of the first Legislative Council. He found an alternate route to Bathurst in 1819. A suburb in Canberra is named ‘Throsby’ which was named after him. This work is a record of his life of achievements. This life is also summarised in H2 below.

H2 - Stone and Metal, David Lennox (Bridge builder) and David Lennox Smith (Sheet metal worker)
This work developed out of my interest in Dr Charles Throsby. It extended the history of early road building activities and bridge building from the time of Governor Macquarie through to Governor Brisbane, and Governor Darling. Mitchell’s prodigy, David Lennox, was an important bridge builder during this turbulent time.

My son, David Lennox Smith, was named after Australia’s first bridge builder. He was a worker in metal. David Lennox rose to become Superintendent of Bridges, Wharves and Ferries. He built numerous bridges in NSW and 58 bridges in Victoria. David Lennox Smith built a similar number of termite-proof houses in the Northern Territory and WA during 1980-2020.  

H3 - The Awakening of Gandangara Man - The Crossing of the Blue Mountains
The Awakening of Gandangara Man’ or ‘Over the Blue Mountains to the Great Dividing Range and on to the Plains’ extended my investigation into the history of colonial exploration. This work traced the history of discovery from the Cumberland Plains in a westerly direction up to and after 1813. In my previous works I had focussed on the development from Sydney in a southerly direction. In this book I took the opportunity to tell part of the history of my forebears. There was a small part of the exodus from the Sydney settlement that has sprawled to the edge of the Blue Mountains. I also took the opportunity to acknowledge that the aboriginal Gandangara had probably been crossing the Blue Mountains for thousands of years prior to white man.    

H4 - The Australian War Memorial  
The Australian War Memorial is included in this history section even though it also appears in a modified form in my ‘Cosmic Mountain’ in the Religion Section. (See R8)

H5 - The Lower Hawkesbury River
 This is a resume of the early discovery of the Hawkesbury – Nepean area by Governor Phillip. The Hawkesbury River Region was the ‘food basket’ for the Sydney population. Its upper reaches into the Nepean River, near Windsor, Richmond, Sackville, Wilberforce and Ebenezer was known as Green Hills. Small craft made their way to the Pacific Ocean with fruit, vegetables and grain. They camped overnight at Coaster’s Retreat, Mona Vale. They proceeded in convoy down the coast to the Sydney markets. It was this area that Governor Phillip explored before it developed. 

H6 - The Assassination of J.F.K. 
This work arose from an assignment I was given in my U3A class. I have since modified my theory about who the real culprits were. In this explanation I accepted the theory that Oswald did not fire a single shot. He was a genuine ‘Patsy’ employed by the CIA and used by a cabal of ‘Mafia’ casino owners to get even with the Kennedy brother’s persecution of them. J. Edgar Hoover and ​Lyndon Baines Johnson knew all about the plot to assassinate President, J. F. Kennedy.  

H7 - An Introduction to the Ramas ​Restaurant Canberra
This was written as a ‘Thank You’ to my daughter-in-law , Minnie Gaundar. It provides background material concerning the place of ‘Rama in the Hindu pantheon.  

H8 - A Lawson Scrapbook  
 A Lawson Scrapbook grew out of my personal collection of Henry Lawson memorabilia. This was a collection of newspaper cuttings and copies of photographs of his birthplace and other aspects of his life. It also contains copies of some of my favourite Lawson poems.   

H9 - Two Grey Dreamers - Henry Lawson and Mark Smith
This is a companion volume to the Lawson Scrapbook. However, it contains some of my poems about Lawson and other poems in the Lawson tradition. Naturally I was the other Grey Dreamer. I labelled myself the second Grey Dreamer because my Great Grandfather lived not far from Henry Lawson. I came from the same soil. 

H10- Finding Lawson in his Poetry 
This book uses much material from the two earlier works on Lawson. It adds further material and commentary garnered from online sources and articles, theses, and biographical works on Lawson. Much of the material was supplied by Chris Nelson. This book has been placed in this History Section even though it is about Lawson’s poetry. A great deal of Lawson’s poetry describes the pre-Federation and post-Federation days and is a record of the social history of these periods. Surprisingly, hidden among his 650 poems is a great deal of his personal history.  

 H11 - Murrumbidgee Odyssey 
This is a tribute to the Murrumbidgee River. It is a composite work. It outlines the European discovery by Dr. Charles Throsby and the later expedition work of Charles Sturt. It also contains details of subsequent developments, including references to towns and irrigation developments. It also has reproductions of Elioth Gruner's paintings, and a song and several poems, about the Murrumbidgee River.