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Book 4 - Lockley’s of Parramatta Series
Charles is the Earl of Coxheath. Convicted, yet innocent, he spends his youth as a convict in Parramatta, only to discover he was an Earl and didn’t know. He had virtually no education and few social skills. Now faced with his own mortality, and has to work out how to live the remainder of his life after a near-death experience. He is called to step way out of his comfort zone in London. His action will change the world for many.
The echoes from the past still haunt his oldest son, Charlie.
London is calling the family, and they can’t put off the trip.
How does Jim, the Cobb and Co, coach driver, fit in? And exactly what is 'The Earl’s Shadow’ that he speaks about?
Can handing everything to God be that simple? What happens if the Shadow is gone?
When I started writing this story the characters took over the plot!
There are two incidents in this where again I have woven real-life experiences into the storyline. The snake bite described, is from an experience that my father had when I was a child. The symptoms described were as he suffered them, only over a greater space of time. The numb tongue and fuzzy speech took some days to occur. The rest of the symptoms were similar. Mum was a nurse and wrote them down as they happened. The snake that bit my dad was a five-foot black snake ( Eric Worral, a friend inspected the bite and could identify the size and species from the fang marks) and was some ten foot up a 'she-oak' tree. It should not have been there! Dad too thought he'd been stabbed by a branch. It was only when Mum showered him some two days later, that she found the bite in the middle of his side.
The near-death experience is one that occurred to my mum when she was over gassed in a dentists chair in 1925. She too saw Heaven and was told it was not her time - she had to 'go back'. She did and what an extraordinary life she led! She was co-winner of the Senior citizen of the year in 1999. Her epitaph reads "Home at last"
The Reform Bill was indeed a 'thing' and was eventually passed. The vote was finally given to 'the common man'. Eventually, this inspired the Suffragette Movement.
Charles speech in the House of Lords is of course made up - but the details of the sovereigns made are accurate. So much gold was being found in the colony at that time that it was formed into Millions of coil. Hence the Syndey Mint was built. You can go there today and see through it!
Kit's Sermon was inspired by a Rev John Chapman Lecture when I was at Bible college. He gave us the 'Five points of Evangelism' If you can remember them you can tell anyone about our Faith! I have no idea where the idea came from!
"God, Man, God, What if you do? What if you don't?" Remember this and expand it. The truth of our Faith then follows:-
1.“God Created the world - how - well, it doesn’t matter, we have no call to understand HOW He did it - only that He did do it!
2. Mankind sinned and stepped out of God’s will.
3. God makes a pathway back to Him through Jesus. He died to take our sins, and therefore we are forgiven.
4. We either Believe it - and accept His forgiveness
5. Or we reject it and believe there is nothing else and that living is pointless, condemned forever to nothingness.
Again I cannot finish without mentioning the Reverend William Branwhite Clarke and his astounding contribution to Australia as we know it. In the Bicentenary year he was called "Father of Australian Geology" and did indeed 'do' the first Mineral survey in the colony. He is named as one of the top 200 most influential Australians.
How this one finished is NOT how I planned it. But as I said the characters took over the plot! We must remember that the end is just the beginning. We have an Eternal life when we finished this one.
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