Ninety-five-year-old Marie Fish has just released her latest book, A Glimpse of Lakes Entrance: The Early Years 1858-1938, and welcomed members of the Lakes Entrance Historical Society, friends, residents and relatives to a book launch
at the Historical Society Centre
last Tuesday.
State MP Tim Bull officially launched the book stating it was “very much more than a glimpse”.
“It is straight to the point, a very factual history, well put together and I will have to reread it to take it all in,” he said.
Marie said she has been a member of the Historical Society for 30 years and during that time was occasionally asked if they had a small book on the history of Lakes Entrance.
“Sadly, there wasn’t, so there was only one thing to do; since it wouldn’t write itself, I would try to do it myself,” Marie said.
Marie read everything she could about early Lakes Entrance, went to bookshops and talked to long-time residents and slowly she could see a story emerging.
“I passed my draft over to my friends and fellow members Marion Holding and Judy Davies for editing and correcting. When we were all satisfied Judy typed it up,”
Marie said.
“As I already had a collection of local photos and old postcards, I decided to illustrate it with pencil drawings using those photos as reference. As first impressions are the best, the book needed a nice cover, so I did a watercolour painting of an early picture showing a couple of paddle steamers, and how small Bullock Island used to be.
“This book is simply to give
the reader a glimpse of early
Lakes Entrance rather than a
detailed history and hopefully a pleasant read.”
The story tells of the arrival of William Roadknight and his family in 1858, travelling on the first paddle steamer, The Enterprise, to enter the Lakes; tales of the old natural entrance where the golf course is now; the beginnings of trade of the Lakes; the tourist and fishing industries; and lots more.
“I chose to stop at 1937-38 when the last two steamers left the Lakes. The beautiful SS Gippsland steaming out the entrance in 1937, heading for another life on Sydney Harbour, and the withdrawal of that faithful old workhorse the SS Burrabogi from service in 1938,” Marie said.
Marie was born in 1930 at Maffra, the third child and only daughter of Vincent and Amy Teychenné. When her mother died only eighteen months later, Marie spent the next few years with her grandmother until her father remarried.
She had an idyllic childhood on the family dairy farm at Newry and holidays at her grandmother’s property ‘Iona’ on Boole Poole, which is a special place to Marie.
Her love of the Gippsland Lakes is lifelong, with family connections going back to the 1890s and with lasting memories such as the steamer Gippsland coming around Mosquito Point and crossing Bancroft Bay.
Marie particularly remembers the summer night cruises to the Gilsenan property on Chinamans Creek, with the boat’s lights ablaze and people singing and dancing to the music of the onboard piano.
Marie married her husband Rex after World War II. They had three children – Bruce, Jeanette and Warren.
In 1963, Rex and Marie moved to Lakes Entrance and built the Water’s Edge Caravan Park, which they operated until the 1970s. While Marie enjoyed meeting the people who stayed at the park, she was not sorry to leave, as it was hard work and sometimes affected her health.
Marie then had time to indulge in her hobbies of knitting, spinning, drawing and painting. She also realised a passion for the history of the area and, in conjunction with the Lakes Entrance Historical Society, wrote and illustrated Carpentertown: A History of the New Works Cottages at Lakes Entrance, which was published in 2008.
Marie thanked all those who supported her to write and illustrate her latest book, particularly Judy Davies’ hard work in getting it published.
“Without Judy’s input, this book would not have come to fruition,” Marie said.
“I hope readers will enjoy the journey this little narrative takes you on.”
