We chat to master storyteller Jim Haynes
Check out our interview with Jim Haynes about his latest collection The Big Book of Convict Stories.
A&U: You’ve written extensively about Australia’s history and the extraordinary people who have shaped it. What first drew you to historical storytelling
JH: At first it was a sort of childhood wonderment that all the things I knew were the result of earlier generations’ experiences and the discoveries and bravery of people long dead.
A&U: You’ve spent years bringing fascinating characters from Australia’s past to life. Are there any from your earlier books who have stayed with you—and what is it about them that makes them so memorable?
JH: Some characters stand out historically as remarkable achievers, others for incredible bravery and selflessness, some lived ‘lives beyond my imagining’ (there are many of those in this latest book). Among my personal ‘heroes’ are James Cook, Matthew Flinders, Chinese Morrison, Mary Reibey, Nancy Bird Walton, Elizabeth Fry and Lucy Osburn.
A&U: What do you think keeps readers coming back to Australian history, even when they already know the broad strokes of the story?
JH: Many do not know even the broad strokes these days. People need to know the truth about the past and understand it in perspective and context, and many wish to, but the truth is concealed by myths and revisionism.
A&U: What inspired you to bring together The Big Book of Convict Stories now?
JH: The convict era is an essential part of our history and culture. We cannot know who we are without knowing the truth about how our nation was built. In telling these life stories, it was my intention to reveal just HOW these people lived in the past and the conditions and circumstances in which their lives were lived.
A&U: Australia’s convict history is familiar to many of us, but your book introduces readers to plenty of forgotten and fascinating figures. How did you choose the stories to include?
JH: I find that few Australians actually know anything about the era of transportation. When I ask audiences to guess the number of convicts transported, or the length of the convict era, a very small percentage know the truth. My choice was based on three categories. One, those who succeeded (happy endings), two, those whose lives were ‘beyond imagining’ and three, those who came to a gruesome end, including some who did not deserve such a fate and others who were truly evil and did.
A&U: Your books are deeply researched, but historical sources can often tell only part of a person’s story. How do you go about piecing together the lives of these long-ago characters, and what does the research process look like when you’re trying to uncover the person behind the historical record?
JH: Good question . . . I always seek PRIMARY (or early) sources, instead of accepting the research of past writers and historians, especially those who write with an ‘agenda’ rather than being objective. I am lucky to have a sister who is AMAZING at discovering otherwise unknown facts and finding pieces of the ‘jigsaw puzzle’ of past lives (shipping lists, census records, genealogy, family histories, church baptismal, marriage and death records etc). We seek out the unknown facts that make the story make better sense. Try to find out ‘what was going on at the time’ that was affecting someone’s life, actions and decision making. If I make an ‘informed guess’ I tell the reader it is ‘likely’ or ‘probable’. Always look for the reasons for a character’s behaviour in the context of the time—and assume nothing from a modern perspective.
A&U: The book features bushrangers, pirates, swindlers, settlers, escapees and women who defied extraordinary circumstances. Was there a particular character or story that surprised you most during your research?
JH: Sapy Lovell’s story has always amazed me and no one had ever told it before. The life of Jørgen Jørgensen reads like ridiculous fiction. But for sheer brutal and gruesome horror, Alexander Pearce takes the cake!
A&U: Taken together, what do these stories reveal about the people who lived through Australia’s convict era—and the society they helped create?
JH: It is a bit of a cliched and hackneyed ‘revelation’ that transportation inadvertently produced a nation that was far more egalitarian and successful socially than Britain, with a better standard of living. But, the fact is . . . it’s true!
A&U: And one more—just for fun! If you could invite three people from The Big Book of Convict Stories to dinner, who would you choose—and why?
JH: William Walker and William Westwood seem like ‘decent blokes’ worth feeding and sharing a drink and a yarn with. I’d love to find out what Jørgen Jørgensen was really like! Maybe I won’t ask the cannibal Alexander Pearce to dinner!
The Big Book of Convict Stories
by Jim Haynes
Warm, witty and deeply researched, these tales illuminate the complexity of colonial Australia and those whose struggles, crimes, courage and ingenuity helped shape the nation.
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