The story begins aboard ship from the meeting of two young people going to Australia as post World War 2 English emigrants embarking under an Australian government subsidised plan to populate the country. It a was time when there were jobs for anyone anywhere throughout the length and breadth of Australia, thus making it possible to travel, work and explore during a more innocent time in a land climatically and socially conducive to such idyllic possibilities. The period covered is 16 years, from 1954 to 1970, of which five years are spent in New Zealand. Throughout this time children are born and a young family evolves. Many emigrants simply settled around the major cities for no other apparent reason than that it was where they had disembarked. For some this was traumatic and sometimes tragic. The book attempts - however briefly - to address such themes and the themes of emigrants in general. As the Vietnam War emerges an attempt is made to define Australia's political choices in relation to her geographical environment. Ostensibly written for family and friends, the story strives towards a wider audience, but is entirely biographical and factual, except where a few forgotten names - very few - have been substituted with others. | The Long Way Round by John Nesling, Paperback | Indigo Chapters