Max Harris and the Book

I flew into Adelaide on the Wednesday afternoon and after a coffee in a new Cafe in the great open space between the domestic terminal and the car park, my sister called as she was on her way.

We, as usual had lots to talk about - catching up on family news etc.

Next morning we were up early, and my sister dropped me at familiar territory - South Terrace, Adelaide.  I have many happy memories there as the South Australian Girl Guide headquarters building was on this street, opposite the park.  I remember meeting Lady Baden Powell, the founder of Girl Guides - I was an enthusiastic member from aged 10 to 18.

I caught the tram (free) into the city near Rundle Mall, and walked the rest of the way.  I stood and looked at the building on the corner of North Terrace and King William Street - where I worked back in 1961!!  I walked down King William Road towards the River Torrens, past Government House - where I visited each year on Thinking Day (February) where each year we celebrated Scouting and Guiding and where, in South Australia, Queen's Scouts and Queen's Guides were presented with their certificates.  I was one of them!!!

Beyond Government House is an area which I remember as a Military area - on special occasions military folk assembled there.  Between that area and Government House is a special garden - Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden,  and it was in this area that my cousin Betty Snowden was a guest for Adelaide Writer's Week, talking about her biography of Max Harris.

As the review mentioned, Betty did not get much of a look in to talk about the book - but I still found it most interesting and look forward to getting a copy of the book, which maybe some time away.  It appears the book was published in a rush and was not complete, and also the glue holding the pages together did not hold!!  So someone made a decision to give all 60 books away for free.  I was not lucky enought to get one of the free ones, and hope I will be able to get one sometime.  However, the publisher was not happy with someone's decision to give the faulty books away, and there may be a delay before the book becomes available.




I knew little of Max Harris until attending this event and listening to Betty - as I left Adelaide as a teenager, but went to live in Mount Gambier, which is where Max lived in his early days and his known for his reading of evey book in the Mount Gambier Library.

I do want to read the full story of Max!!

Comments