A Road by the River by Peter Beale published by PulbahPress

The Road by the River

by Peter Beale

The road by the river runs along the northern bank of the Hawkesbury River from Wisemans Ferry to Spencer, and then up Mangrove Creek to Greengrove. It runs through an area of outstanding natural beauty, as noted by the author Anthony Trollope in 1872.

European immigrants settled along the river and the creek, starting in the 1790s. They prospered modestly, but had periodic visitations by devastating floods. All of this area has never been overbuilt, even though it is within 60 kilometres of the centre of Sydney.

This fortunate fact is mainly due to the river and the creek being bordered on both sides by National Parks, ensuring the preservation of attractive recreational areas and the impossibility of housing development. It has retained its pristine scenic beauty, and contains much of historical interest as well as opportunities for outdoor activities.

The Road by the River describes the early road of the 1880s and the changes made to it over the next 60 years. Technical details of road and bridge building are given in appendices, and there is much information about the families who have lived, worked, quarrelled, and cooperated along the path of the road.

The book is profusely illustrated with more than 35 maps, 35 photographs, 26 plans and diagrams, and 14 facsimiles of documents

About the Author Peter Beale "fit as a tomcat feed on mustard"

It is with much pleasure that we present this new book from the pen of Peter Beale, an established author of several titles some of these are.

Tank tracks: 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment at war, 1940-45‎

Death by design: the fate of British tank crews in the Second World...

Wesley at Wisemans: an account of Methodism in the Hawkesbury Valley

The Great Mistake: the battle for Antwerp and the Beveland Penisula...

In typical Peter Beale fashion he already has plans for another book in the near future stay tuned.

I was lucky to meet Peter at a bookbinding and repair workshop I was running. One of the first things I noticed was his determination to accomplish his given tasks. The disciplined way he approached all of the little tasks, you just knew that he wanted to learn all about the art of book production, from the planning, formatting, and all of the things that go into making a book. In a way the bookbinding was just another one of those tasks, the enthusiasm for the job at hand is so refreshing to see, not to mention the humor.

If you would like to have Peter talk to a group be it local history or how to plan and write a book,

email Jim info@ozzbooks.com.au

As the illustrious Oscar Wilde said "Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it."