In the year 1865 William Sykes set out with his companions to trap rabbits in Silver Wood, not far from his home in the heart of the industrial North of England. Lying in wait for them was a heavily armed band of gamekeepers, protecting the rights of the local landowners. A fierce and bloody battle erupted and soon the gamekeeper lay mortally wounded.
William and the others were eventually arrested and tried for murder. A jury unsympathetic to the hated English game laws found William guilty of manslaughter, the punishment for which was transportation to Australia and exile far away in the Swan River Colony.
Myra, his wife, was left to raise four children as best she could with limited resources and in the face of hostility from William's family. She had no idea that when William sailed for Australia that she and their children would never see her dear husband and their much loved father again.
These Few Lines, a poignant tale spanning decades and hemispheres, has been created from the most meagre of sources - some letters from Myra and William, a letter to his father from one of William's sons, William's shipboard journal, and a handful of official documents.
No one will fail to be moved by the love, courage and endurance of the wife left behind nor the sadness and ironies of the life of William Sykes, lonely exile, on the other side of the world.
A historical detective story for lovers of Colonial Australian history..
