The members of Rose City Writers were saddened to hear of the death of David Hortle. David had succumbed on April 7 to illness that had taken him back to Tasmania late in 2010. Until then he had for a number of years been an esteemed member of our writers group.David was born at Longford, Tasmania, the fourth and fifth generation of his farming parents. Although qualifying, David decided to forego university to stay and manage the family properties. He married and had four children, but after an economic downturn the farms were not viable so he sold and came to Queensland.Here David settled with his family on a property in the Gladfield area and was manager and eventually owner of a successful wool buying business. He started the first of his published trilogy of novels in 1994 with “Footsteps to Nowwhere,” displaying his concern at the abuse of traditional power. He dedicated this book to “My grandchildren, may they live under a political system that allows them to freely express their ideas.”On retirement he continued with his interests of writing, self publishing a booklet on farming practices in Tasmania over a century, and a photographic history of the sandstone buildings in Warwick. His writings pursued through the group displayed his love of the land, his family and the freedom of democracy. He is sadly missed by Rose City Writers and we extend our sympathy to his family.
Dorothy Peters,
Warwick
