About the Author - Marilyn Qu

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marilyn Quirk was born on the goldfields of Western Australia. Her family moved to Tasmania about 1948 from a land of heat and bushfires to one of mountains and snow at Tarraleah in the Central Highlands.

Tasmania was short of workers and the government sent agents to Europe to encourage people to migrate. During the post-war years, the Hydro Electric Commission of Tasmania desperately needed workers for their mighty construction schemes. They signed up people from around Australia and sought workers from the pool of refugees in Europe. From 1947 onwards, new and old Australians converged on the central highlands villages of Butlers Gorge, Bronte Park. Tarraleah, Wayatinah and Waddamana.

The family later moved to the North West Coast. Over the years they speculated on the fate of those early migrants who came to work on the huge HEC construction sites

In 2004, Marilyn received an Arts Tasmania grant to travel the State and interviewed some of these migrants. Hydro Tasmania assisted in getting the book into print.

‘Echoes on the Mountain’ was launched in 2006 at Petrarch’s Book Shop in Launceston, the Hydro Tasmania building in Hobart and the Burnie Bowls Club on the north west coast. The book sold very well and has had a second print run.

Marilyn is the wife of Trevor, has four children and eight grandchildren. She worked in TAFE Tasmania as a teacher and head of department in Burnie and Devonport, training students in the Commerce Department. She obtained a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education (BAVE) from the University of Tasmania and is now retired.

Visit Marilyn's Blog.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA AND MIGRATION