Tales From The Acacia Trees

By Lindsay Johannsen

This is one of those "Getting to know the author" things, or more accurately, "Getting to know the author as a feral eight to eleven year old" (or even, "Getting to be thankful you never had the misfortune of meeting the author as a feral eight to eleven-or-more year old"). Whatever the case, my associates and I in those bygone days simply saw ourselves (with concessions), as the Kings of Creation

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lindsay Johannsen
• Release date: May 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310531095

Lindsay Johannsen

There's not a lot to tell really, though on reflection, looking back on it through the lens of one’s recollections and memories, the whole business seems more akin to an extended Huckleberry Finn adventure, but set in the vastness of Central Australia. Born, raised and schooled in Alice Springs; taken from the leafy glades of learning mid-way through Year-eight to work at my father's remote little copper mine; later employed for some years driving his cattle-hauling road trains – him having pioneered road trains and the cattle hauling business (see "Kurt Johannsen: A Son of the Red Centre"). Married in the fullness of time; built a bush homestead on the northern edge of the Simpson Desert and raised a family there, all while running a small tungsten mining business and provisioning the hundred or so Aboriginal people local to the area who adopted us. Sold our mine and homestead a few years after the kids had flown the coop, acquired a forty foot (12m) touring coach, converted it into a big steel-wheel mobeel Palaise-de-passion motor home and took to the roads of this great land of Oz - in the main visiting our offspring (most of whom had moved to coastal regions), our grandchildren generally and a couple of great grandies, plus various friends and associates from years gone by. So these days all I have to do is keep the missus happy – my Bride my Precious Lamb and Flower of the Early Mid Morning. 'Anywhere you wish, my darling,' I tell her. 'You just say the word and we'll be on our way.' So it's free as the breeze, we are now, out and about having wild and exciting adventures and being amazingly cool generally. Best job I ever had.

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Tales From The Acacia Trees

Published by Lindsay Johannsen at Smashwords

Copyright Lindsay Johannsen 2015

Smashwords Edition Licence Notes.

Tales From The Acacia Trees is presented here free of cost. I insist on maintaining my copyright, however, though until such time as I amend this notice please feel free to disseminate, reproduce, copy or distribute it to your heart’s content, provided you do this for non-commercial purposes only and the story remains complete and in its original form. My preference, however, is for you to recommend to others that they download Tales From The Acacia Trees from Smashwords themselves, so enriching my life with a warm glow of satisfaction in lieu of any monetary reward.

Thank you.

National Library Of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication data:

Author: Johannsen, Lindsay Andrew

Title: Tales From The Acacia Trees

Cover art by the author.

Also published at Smashwords by one’s sylph: the novels McCullock’s Gold and The Cassidy Chronicles, plus a poem and some other short story rubbish, a couple of children’s stories and a couple of Christmas yarns – among other things.

To order the McCullock’s Gold paperback version or contact the author please visit

www.vividpublishing.com.au/lajohannsen

TALES FROM THE ACACIA TREES

Disclaimer:

This is not an historical document; rather it has been penned to entertain. And given it may fail on both counts I have elected to change the names of almost everyone mentioned herein. Those who know of these things will know of whom I write, so please address any correspondence in relation to these issues directly to my solicitors: Ron Bruise and Associates, 49 Nothrough Rd, Mudbuggery Wash NT, 0899. Thank you.

Chapter 1. Assaying The Alice; And Whither Its Waters

When I was a boy, growing up in Alice Springs was an adventure. One of the reasons for this is that in those days the world was a much freer and safer place, especially where kids were concerned.

Alice Springs was the name Government Surveyor WW Mills gave in 1871 to what he believed was a spring-fed waterhole he'd discovered in the rocky MacDonnell Range hills, in what was subsequently named the Todd River – Todd being the Surveyor General at that time and Alice being his wife.

Mills had been looking for a way through the MacDonnell Ranges