Riverboy: A Boy’s Journey Through Rural Australia

The coastal town remains unnamed, as does ‘the boy’ through whose eyes this story of 1950s and 1960s rural Australia unfolds. Set against the backdrop of Victoria’s Western District, much of the narrative centers on the allure of fishing waters, both fresh and salt.

More than just a tale of angling, it’s a coming-of-age journey from birth to the tumultuous mid-teens of a young man blessed with good health and a natural talent for sports. Experience his interactions with his Irish and Scottish-born immigrant parents and observe the attitudes and characters within a conservative provincial community of the time.

At its heart, the story contemplates the boy’s complex feelings towards his British ex-serviceman father, a man so different in persona and profession from the ‘dinkum blue-collar Anzac dads’ of his schoolmates. Witness his path as he finally and fully comes to appreciate this admirable man.