Anthea Matley, author of Planting Memories launched in Castlemaine

Peter Wiseman, Anthea Matley, and Katherine Seppings with Anthea.

Planting Memories by Anthea Matley was launched in Castlemaine by Peter Wiseman, Bendigo TAFE professional writing and editing teacher and coordinator. Katherine Seppings (Sevenpens) edited, designed and published the book.

‘Anthea’s writing is a matchless evocation. The stories are told beautifully in the voices of her family members. I felt the chill winds sweeping off the Saskatchewan prairie, witnessed the shimmering Egyptian desert, felt the heat and humidity at the end of a Papuan dry season, saw the dense tropical forest surrounding serried ranks of rubber trees with their tell-tale scars from the tappers’ work and relived the uncertainty of emigration in a time where the only communication with family left on the other side of the globe was via flimsy blue aerograms stamped “Par Avion”.

Planting Memories is tightly edited and a pleasure to read. I commend this book to anyone who enjoys intimate biographies and creative non-fiction, and those interested in the history of Papua. I congratulate Anthea on completing a mammoth task so well and her team for a truly professional publishing project.’ – Peter Wiseman

Planting Memories follows the life of Culver Matley who left his drought-ravaged prairie home in Punnichy, Canada, in 1935, and sailed to an unknown life on the island of Samarai and then to the Sogeri Plateau of Papua New Guinea.

Culver lived and worked on rubber plantations in Papua for 33 years. During WW2, he served as a driver mechanic with the 68 Light Aid Detachment in the Middle East. He met his wife, Margaret, an Australian Air Force nurse in PNG and together they built a home and raised a family of five children on the Mororo and Eilogo plantations.

Based on family letters, photographs, and memories, Planting Memories recounts many incidents that made up daily life in the PNG mountains. But as their adopted country faced the political and economic challenges of the 1960s, Culver and Margaret reluctantly decided to leave their home and move to Australia.

Author Bio –

Anthea Matley was born in Moresby and grew up on a rubber plantation on the Sogeri Plateau, Papua New Guinea, immigrating to Australia in 1968. She has a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing and has assisted in producing and publishing Kidnapped by Time, a history of the Faraday area. Anthea has written short stories and poetry and Planting Memories is her first creative non-fiction book. She lives in Elphinstone.

To Purchase – Planting Memories is available through the author’s website Here