Mira Zacchaeus has published her collection of stories from a prominent man from the Goulburn Valley. Photo: Supplied.
After 18 years of hard work, Mira Zacchaeus finally can hold a copy of her finished novel.
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Ms Zacchaeus has recently self-published a collection of memoirs from a relative, titled Infernal Rice and Red Desert Skies — The Memoirs of Roy ‘Padre’ Young: Farmer, Minister, Prisoner of War.
For almost two decades, the Western Australian author has been combing through written accounts of her grandfather-in-law’s life growing up in the Goulburn Valley.
“Roy is my husband’s maternal grandfather, whom I had the privilege of talking to over the years and reading his memoir notes,” she said.
“His life was quite remarkable, and this sparked my desire to put them into print.”
Roy Young spent his life growing up in and around the Goulburn Valley, with his father being born in Shepparton and himself born in Numurkah in 1917.
He spent time growing up in Finley and Lalalty, NSW, along the Victorian border.
“His family travelled to Cobram by horse and gig for shopping and business, or a wooden-wheeled wagon drawn by a team of eight draft horses when delivering a wheat harvest,” Ms Zacchaeus said.
Roy studied in Melbourne before taking his first postings as a Methodist Minister in Strathbogie and Yackandandah, and after World War II, his family ran a shop and service station in Kyabram and moved to Shepparton where his children attended school, with some of his children remaining in the region.
The Memoirs of Roy Young details his life in the early part of the 20th century, growing up on a farm in rural Victoria, to his time as a Methodist minister and being an enlisted soldier in World War II.
Ms Zacchaeus said in the 1970s, Roy began to write down his stories casually, as they came to mind, before he asked his family to compile them into typed notes, eventually becoming the basis of her book.
“In 2007, after speaking to some family members, I approached Roy to ask if I may adopt the task of ordering his memoirs into chronological order and rewrite them into a narrative style,” she said.
“It has taken me these past 18 years in between studies, having children and working as a teacher to finally bring all the pieces together, including my own extensive research from various sources to complete the book.
“Roy passed away in 2011 so he is not here to see this publication, but it was important for him to share his memories, and all his family got to read his collection of collated memoir notes in his later years.”
Roy Young as a solider. Photo: Supplied.
Working on this project taught Ms Zacchaeus a lot about her grandfather-in-law.
“In writing this book, I feel like I have only scratched the surface of the realities of what life in Australia was like before I was born in the 1970s,” she said.
“Roy recounted so many details of what day-to-day life was like growing up in rural Victoria, including the challenges of farming as a young man and through the Great Depression, and the ingenuity and resilience of his family.
“It was these details that drew me into the story. The turn of events that lead to Roy being caught in the thick of World War II events and how he survived the things he did also put so many questions in my head.”
Infernal Rice and Red Desert Skies — The Memoirs of Roy ‘Padre’ Young: Farmer, Minister, Prisoner of War can be purchased online in paper and e-book format here.
Mira Zacchaeus self-published the memoir. Photo: Supplied.
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