The Lightkeeper's Wife (49 page)
Turning back to the bench to make breakfast, I see the phone and stop. My hand hovers over the handset and I pick it up, feeling its weight in my hand. Then I pick up the piece of paper on the bench, check the number and dial it.
‘Hello.’
‘Bazza.’
‘Tom. I hope you’ve rung to make me a happy man.’
‘I’m sorry, Bazza. I can’t do it.’
‘Don’t tell me you’re taking Fredricksen’s job.’
‘No. But I wanted to tell you first; I’m not going south.’
‘Well, that’s a bugger. Maybe next year.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. But thanks for the opportunity.’
‘No worries, mate. Stay in touch.’
I hang up the phone and lay it on the bench. Then I pick it up again. I ought to ring Fredricksen. But there’s someone else I need to ring first. I find the number.
One ring. Two. Three. Four.
My whole body is waiting for the receiver to be picked up.
Please answer.
‘Hello.’
My hands sweat. I turn the piece of paper over and run my fingertips lightly over the spidery writing. My heart is in my throat.
‘. . . Is that Adam Singer?’
‘Yes, yes it is.’ The voice is gravelly, unfamiliar.
‘Hello . . . this is Tom.’
The writing of
The Lightkeeper’s Wife
has been a challenging but fulfilling journey. For support, encouragement, persistence and good faith, I thank my publisher, Jane Palfreyman, at Allen & Unwin. She pushed me to delve deeper and deliver more, and for this I am grateful. The excellent editing skills and input of Siobhán Cantrill, Catherine Milne and Clara Finlay also helped greatly in the shaping of this book, and A&U designer, Emily O’Neill, has created a stunning cover. Thanks to all of you.
Without the ongoing support and positivity of my agent, Fiona Inglis at Curtis Brown, this book would not have happened. I thank her for guiding me through unexpected squalls along the way. Also, my wonderful husband, David Lindenmayer, had unflinching confidence in me, and read and re-read the manuscript beyond the call of duty. My sister, Fiona Andersen, gave invaluable comments on earlier drafts of the book. Marjorie Lindenmayer provided indispensible help and diligently read the page proofs.
For giving me the opportunity to experience Antarctica and be captivated by this grand wilderness, I thank the Australian Antarctic Division. I went south twice as a volunteer on ANARE projects working on Weddell and crabeater seals (summer of 1995–96 and 1996–97). The caretakers at the Cape Bruny Light Station, Andy and Beth Campbell, provided a happy and comfortable stay in the assistant lightkeeper’s cottage, and I especially thank Andy for answering my many questions. The history room at Alonnah on Bruny Island was also a useful resource.
Where possible I have tried to be consistent with the history of the lighthouse, the region and the era, however deviations from the facts were sometimes necessary to facilitate the telling of the story. Information on lighthouses and the way of life on light stations was gleaned from many books, including:
Guiding
Lights: Tasmania’s Lighthouses and Lighthousemen
(K.M. Stanley);
From Dusk Till Dawn: A History of Australian Lighthouses
(Gordon Reid);
Romance of Australian Lighthouses
(V. Philips);
Beacons of
Hope: An Early History of Cape Otway and King Island Lighthouses
(D. Walker);
Following their Footsteps: Exploring Adventure Bay
(
ed
. C.J. Turnbull);
Stargazing: Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse
Keeper
(Peter Hill);
The Lighthouse Stevensons
(Bella Bathurst);
Lighthouses of Australia
(John Ibbotson); and the newsletters and website (
www.lighthouses.org.au
) of Lighthouses of Australia Inc., a non-profit organisation which aims to create a higher profile for Australian lighthouses within Australia and overseas, to thereby preserve, protect and promote their place within our history. I have also visited many lighthouses both in Australia and eastern Canada, and have had wonderful sojourns at the Cape Bruny Light Station in Tasmania, Green Cape and Point Perpendicular lighthouses, southeastern NSW, and Gabo Island lighthouse in Victoria.
Insights into Antarctica were derived from my time at Davis Station in the Australian Antarctic Territory, from the notes of my friend Raina Plowright, and from several books, including:
The Home of the Blizzard
(Sir Douglas Mawson);
Just Tell Them
I Survived
(Dr Robin Burns);
Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to
Antarctica
(Tom Griffiths); and
The Silence Calling: Australians
in Antarctica 1947–1997
(Tim Bowden). Special thanks also to my lovely friend Mandy Watson for sharing her home in Coningham, and to friend Bryan Reiss for elucidating the role of diesel mechanics in Antarctica.
This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Vera Viggers, who is
not
Mary Mason in this story. She was, however, a humble, personable and generous woman who has been a great inspiration in my life. I am sad that she did not see the completed version of this book before she died, but she did enjoy an earlier draft.