Tonight we have a special guest speaker, Stephen Whiteside – Australian Poet and Writer.
Stephen is going to talk to us about his two books:
‘Snow, Fire and Gold – the story of Bill Spargo and Evelyn Piper’s life in the Australian mountains, published in 2024, and
‘The View from Point Lookout – the story of Bill Spargo’s Queensland retirement, published in 2025.
The presentation is also going to include very interesting set of historical photos of what life in the Australian mountains looked like about a century ago.
About Stephen Whiteside
Stephen Whiteside has been walking and skiing through the Australian mountains for most of his life. He has also been writing for many years – mostly rhyming verse, but also short stories, and articles about Australia’s history and natural environment. Many of his poems have been published in magazines or anthologies, both in Australia and overseas, or won awards.
In 2014, Walker Books published a collection of his poetry for children, ‘The Billy that Died with its Boots On and other Australian Verse’. In 2015, the book won a Golden Gumleaf for ‘Book of the Year’ at the Australian Bush Laureate Awards during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. In 2016 he judged the Secondary School section of the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards. Whiteside works as a medical practitioner (GP) in Melbourne.
In 2024 he published a historical novella, ‘Snow, Fire and Gold – the story of Bill Spargo and Evelyn Piper’s life in the Australian mountains.’ Last year he published another novella, ‘Pearl Bradshaw – Princess of Hotham.’ ‘The View from Point Lookout – the story of Bill Spargo’s Queensland retirement’, published this year, is Stephen’s third novella.
The club is going to provide free pizza, some nibbles and drinks.
Booking for this event is mandatory for members and non-members.
Venue
East Melbourne Library Meeting Room, 122 George St, East Melbourne.
Public Transport: 8 minutes walk from West Richmond train station or 4 minutes walk from Jolimont Station. Alternatively take #48 0r #75 tram.
Car Parking: Most of the car parking close to the library has a one-hour limit, however unrestricted street parking is available after 7pm on the Fitzroy Gardens side of Clarendon Street. There is also some two-hour street parking on Wellington Parade and around Darling Square, corner Simpson and Gipps Streets (6 minutes walk from the library).
Please check signage carefully.
Booking
Members and non-members are welcome to attend, however in order to monitor numbers, please submit a booking request for the event.
The host will confirm your participation via email.
For more details, visit: Clubnight
Contact the host using the Enquiry form, above the Booking Request, if you have questions.