It was imperative to collect as many stories from the old timers as possible. Twelve authors who presented work for the book died before it was printed.
Beth Bartram, Jenny Williams, Karen Ward and Sue McDougall self-funded the printing of the book with the exception of a $3,000 donation from the shire and the essential assistance of those who pre purchased, enabling payments to the printers. The books sold out within the first twelve months. The Shire recently funded a reprint of the Short Story Book so it is still available.
The photos received but not able to be included in the Short Story Book instigated the idea of the Dumbleyung and Districts Pictorial which was printed in 2003. As no funding was available, this again was self-funded.
Fourteen years later copies of the pictorial are still available for sale.
The following appears in the front of the Dumbleyung Short Story Book.
How it all came about.
We'd heard them round our tables
We'd heard them in the pub
At the footy, in the meeting
Talking at the Club
We'd laughed and cried and wondered at
the characters of old
we always said, "We should write them down,
these stories we've been told"
So we collected, compiled, pleaded and planned
read and read some more
typed and edited, checked and wrote,
spread stories wall to wall
And here it is! 'The book' at last
It's been fun in many ways
Now we hope you all enjoy it
and wish you "Happy Days"
The Committee held its first meeting on the 14th March, 1997 at Karen & Terry Ward's home. We had all considered the need for stories of people and incidents of past Dumbleyung to be recorded and had attended a Shire meeting regarding an updated history of Dumbleyung. We decided we weren't interested in writing a complete history but would like to record some of the 'stories' of Dumbleyung. After many meetings, faxes and visits to the Wagin Argus and the Batty Library, we have our book.
Our lives were prioritised to encompass the work and time involved in compiling this book. Whilst none of us have special qualifications for this type of work or had 'state of the art' technology on hand, we have managed to accomplish the various tasks and celebrate the end product.
Article supplied by S.McDougall