101 Weird, Wacky and (mostly) True Things About Rockhampton and Central Queensland
Where do John Wayne and Krakatoa meet? Demons and Japanese submarines? Werewolves and the King Rat?
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For many years after its founding as an outpost of the British Empire, Rockhampton was Queensland's second biggest city, an international port, and the service centre for a vast swathe of Central and Northern Queensland.
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These are some of the regions tales of murder, mystery and mayhem...
The Most Tragickal Tale of Elderberg Spillikins
What is love?
Abandoned by his parents and living in a hole under a concrete path, Elderberg Spillikins searches for love in all the wrong places.
A Gothic poem of tragic proportions.
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By 2023, The Most Tragickal Tale of Elderberg Spillikins, a work by poet, Mark Svendsen, was designed, laid, printed, and bound by fine letterpress artist Derek Lamb. The original work was printed as an artists book on an 1887 Notting demy Alexandra Press at The Officina Athelstane studio at the Walter Reid Cultural Centre in Rockhampton.
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This commercial edition is a digitally reproduced version of the original work.
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Copies of the artists book may be purchased from Officina Athelstane.
Latest news
We are very pleased to share a review of Island of the People by Dr Michael Rowland of James Cook University.
Clearly written, great photos, comprehensive, balanced, well referenced etc. Congratulations!
The quality of the production is exceptional -the paper quality, the layout, the vignettes, the number of photos, appendices, references etc.
I have seen a few local history books of various quality and this is certainly a number one.
Further reading
If you are interested in further reading about Woppa/ Keppel Island, look into Cruising the Queensland Coast by Greg Luck. The most recent 2023 edition is available here.