WEST AUSTRALIANA
Shadow Lines is the remarkable story of Jessie Argyle and Edward Smith, the author’s grandparents. At five years of age Jessie Argyle was taken from her family in the remote East Kimberley in Australia’s north-west, forced to walk 150 miles to the coast with police on horseback, placed on a ship and sent almost 2,000 miles south to grow up in an institution for Aboriginal children. Edward Smith was born into a modest middle-class family of clerks and civil servants in London. At eighteen Edward emigrated to a distant corner of the British Empire – Australia. In a deeply racially divided society, Jessie and Edward met, fell in love and, against strong opposition, married. Beautifully written, Shadow Lines is a powerful, deeply personal and inspiring story of love and the ability of the human spirit to triumph despite, what seem to be, overwhelming odds. 414 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm First Edition#0716/1219/0820/1020/140522/200424
Signed by Author (Review Copy label inside cover, small discolouration spot on prelim.)
Affectionately known as the Duchess of Glendower Street, Jessie Argyle was taken from her family at five and grew up in various institutions before taking work as a domestic servant.
Smith, Jessie, 1901-1955 | Smith, Edward, 1891-1962 | Aboriginal Australians — Western Australia — Biography. | Women, Aboriginal Australian — Western Australia — Biography. | History – Biographies – Indigenous. | History – Genealogy and family history. | Economic sectors – Agriculture and horticulture – Pastoral industry. | Kimberley area (WA SD51, SD52, SE51, SE52) | Perth (SW WA SH50-14)