SOUTHERN Downs Regional Council libraries continue their author visit program next month with the fascinating story of Thea Hayes, a city girl who became an Outback nurse in the 1960s.
Principal librarian Samantha Shelbourn said she was delighted to welcome Ms Hayes to the Southern Downs where the autobiographer would read part of her book An Outback Nurse and sign copies at the Stanthorpe, Allora and Warwick libraries
Ms Shelbourn said Ms Hayes’s book combines her personal story with some milestone events in Australia’s history.
“Thea Hayes trained as a nurse in Sydney in 1959.
“A year later she was catapulted out of the safety of her city life into the unknown world of the Outback,” she said.
“Thea knew nothing of the place she was soon to call home, Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory, the second largest property in the world under one management. It covered 4 million acres.
“In An Outback Nurse, Thea explains that she was a ‘real city girl’ and made a very hasty decision to take the job of nurse, hostess and housekeeper at Wave Hill.
“And then in the mid-sixties the famous walkout by the Aboriginal stockmen provided the springboard for what was to become a long and sometimes bitter campaign for land rights.
There, Thea met her future husband and raised four children.
She describes the Outback as an obsession and the story of her time there was burning to be released.
“We look forward to Thea telling her story of overcoming the odds to find her place in the world,” Ms Shelbourn said.
“It’s a story of falling in love with the land and finding love on the land… a story that many will relate to on the Southern Downs.”
Thea will visit Stanthorpe Library on 12 March at 10.30am, Allora Library on 18 March at 10am and Warwick Library on 25 March at 10.30am.
To make a booking for the Stanthorpe Library event call 4681 2141 by 10 March, for the Allora Library event phone 4666 3742 by 16 March and for the Warwick Library event call 4661 034 by 23 March.
