A Pearlers Life. The Letters of Hedley Vicars Howe, on Broome and Pearling Days.
(With Mary Durack, Hugh Richardson, Sr. Albertus Bain.) Edited by Peter J. Bridge.
ISBN 978-0-85905-971-8, (2023, New), A4, Illustrated, 126 pages, 370 grams, $40.00*
These letters include marvellous descriptions of the Broome characters of old and of the vicissitudes of pearling. Much was intended for a book on these characters but it appears that either the work was never completed or did not find the right publisher and the manuscript is not now extant. The exchanges between Mary Durack and Howe are revealing of the old Broome and especially of the local population. This is very different from the upmarket tourist oriented publications that infest the market.