Kirjahaku

Tasmanian war pilot Alan Bowman (1911-1941) joined the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force as a pilot cadet in 1930, and from that time until his death in the Western Desert in 1941, maintained contacted with his family at Deloraine by writing letters about his life and experiences, his travels, his feelings and his hopes.Bowman left Australia for England at the end of 1931 for a career in the Royal Air Force, serving in Egypt in 1935-36 and then India in 1938. In India he had the unique experience of being British military liaison officer to German mountaineers attempting to climb Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas, giving him an invaluable opportunity to fly a German Junkers 52 military plane, used to drop supplies to the climbers.He then commanded a RAF bomber squadron in Singapore in 1939 and Aden in 1940, where he won his first DFC for action against Italian forces in East Africa. From there he went to the Western Desert where his squadron participated in the battle for control of the Eastern Mediterranean.Not long after being awarded a second DFC in 1941 and being promoted to Wing Commander, and just weeks before his death, he distinguished himself by capturing a Stuka dive bomber in disputed territory in the desert, and flying it through 'friendly' fire to a British air base.This book is Alan Bowman's story, told through the lens of his letters, and through that prism it is also the story of many others as well.

Bob McMahon (1950-2013) was the most significant leader of community-based opposition to a huge pulp mill being built in Tasmania's Tamar Valley, near Launceston. His public profile of energy and persistence set an image of durability and strength at the heart of community opposition to the mill.McMahon grew up in the north-west town of Stanley, where the big cliffs of the Nut were his playground, as he liked to say. After studying at the Hobart Art School, where he met his future wife, fellow student Susie Johnston, his teaching career began in 1971. From 1973 until the end of 1987 he taught in senior secondary colleges in Launceston.In 1988 he started his own business in adventure tourism and outdoor education, by this time having an established reputation as one of Australia's foremost climbers. The decades he spent climbing, where careful planning, interdependence and mutual trust were essential, forged a way of being and thinking which challenged convention, tribalism and collective group-think.'We can't afford to lose', was his line in the sand, as it had to be in the life he chose to live and the challenges he took on. McMahon had no time for chains that hold and bind.

Bob McMahon was the most significant leader of community-based opposition to a huge pulp mill being built in Tasmania's Tamar Valley, near Launceston. His leadership combined a holistic socio-economic-environmental rationale with a non-partisan perspective, strong organisational skills, determination and courage.His public profile of energy and persistence set an image of durability and strength at the heart of community opposition to the mill which undermined the attempts of the corporate proponent, its bipartisan political allies and the business-union establishment, to attract finance for the project.McMahon was born in George Town, Tasmania, in 1950, but grew up in the north-west town of Stanley, where the big cliffs of the Nut were his playground, as he liked to say. While a student at the Hobart Art School in the late 1960s, he met his future wife, fellow student Susie Johnston, and Peter Jackson, who introduced him to rock climbing, which became a lifelong passion.His teaching career began in Hobart in 1971, and from 1973 until the end of 1987 he taught in senior secondary colleges in Launceston. In 1988 he started his own business in adventure tourism and outdoor education, by this time having an established reputation as one of Australian's foremost climbers. The decades he spent climbing, where careful planning, interdependence and mutual trust were essential, forged a way of being and thinking which challenged convention, tribalism and collective group-think.'We can't afford to lose', was his line in the sand, as it had to be in the life he chose to live and the challenges he took on. McMahon had no time for chains that hold and bind. This book contains some memories of his journey.Bob McMahon was the most significant leader of community-based opposition to a huge pulp mill being built in Tasmania's Tamar Valley, near Launceston. His leadership combined a holistic socio-economic-environmental rationale with a non-partisan perspective, strong organisational skills, determination and courage.His public profile of energy and persistence set an image of durability and strength at the heart of community opposition to the mill which undermined the attempts of the corporate proponent, its bipartisan political allies and the business-union establishment, to attract finance for the project.McMahon was born in George Town, Tasmania, in 1950, but grew up in the north-west town of Stanley, where the big cliffs of the Nut were his playground, as he liked to say. While a student at the Hobart Art School in the late 1960s, he met his future wife, fellow student Susie Johnston, and Peter Jackson, who introduced him to rock climbing, which became a lifelong passion.His teaching career began in Hobart in 1971, and from 1973 until the end of 1987 he taught in senior secondary colleges in Launceston. In 1988 he started his own business in adventure tourism and outdoor education, by this time having an established reputation as one of Australian's foremost climbers. The decades he spent climbing, where careful planning, interdependence and mutual trust were essential, forged a way of being and thinking which challenged convention, tribalism and collective group-think.'We can't afford to lose', was his line in the sand, as it had to be in the life he chose to live and the challenges he took on. McMahon had no time for chains that hold and bind. This book contains some memories of his journey.