Parramatta 1828
In the Female Factory Amelia is waiting her assignment. Forced out against her will, she follows the other women and walks up onto the dais where men claim them. She is assigned to a man from Castlereagh and knows her worst nightmare is just about to start. With foul breath and black teeth the man is disgusting. She is violently raped before she even arrives at his place and this continues regularly. Over the next few months things go from bad to worse, concluding in an unwanted pregnancy.
Her brother Jimmy finds a way to keep in contact via a friend named Robert. She pours out her heart to her brother in a letter, telling him of the horrors she’s dealing with. He gives her a thread of hope and encourages her to stay firm in her faith. All she can do is pray.
Another of Jimmy’s friends, Major Ned Grace, enters her life in Parramatta and he starts to ease her path. Things change, but now she has a child in tow. How can she ever go back to a ‘normal’ life? Who would ever love her with her background. Even Ned doesn’t. Can she ever find love?
Author Bio
Sheila Hunter and Sara Powter were a passionate mother and daughter team of amateur genealogy. While working together on their family tree, Sheila and Sara made a captivating discovery. Four convicts, with four very different perspectives; sent to Australia during Convict times.
Before her passing in 2002, Sheila adapted some of these histories into enchanting stories, the Australian Colonial Trilogy. She also left a half finished fourth story which is now completed by Sara. ‘Dancing to her own tune’ now too has a sequel, ‘Amelia’s Tears’.
Sara later had the trilogy published. And the two new ones should be in print by 2022. It inspired her to write more. The Lockley’s of Parramatta were created.
Vividly living through the Colonial Era, this series delves further into the theme of overcoming adversity in Colonial Parramatta and how it developed. The demise of the Convict system and discovery of various gems and minerals.
Sara intricately weaves real archival data, and a charming narrative, to create a series of tales of faith, love, loss, and redemption. Sara has now completed Sheila Hunter’s last unfinished manuscript. Watch for ‘Dancing to her own tune’ and its companion story ‘Amelia’s Tears’. It’s a prequel for all of their Colonial novels.
Travelling the East coast of Australia in their retirement, Sara and her husband Stephen enjoyed the deep sense of belonging gained by uncovering a familial connection to a new area.
And so, over two hundred years after her family’s arrival in Australia as convicts, Sara continues the Australian Colonial stories with these delightful and insightful stories.
