Greycliffe; Stolen Lives

SYNOPSIS
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Greycliffe; Stolen Lives is a local history investigating the Greycliffe ferry disaster of 1927, Sydney’s greatest maritime disaster, in which 40 people were killed. The book explores how a collision between a large ocean liner, the Tahiti and a Watson’s Bay ferry, the Greycliffe, happened on an ordinary afternoon on the harbour in which there appeared to little reason for the two vehicles to collide so tragically. Steve Brew provides a narrative account of the accident and biographical detail of those who lost their lives as well as those held to account for the accident.

Circular Quay, Sydney, 1930. No.1 wharf, the first jetty from the left, was home to Sydney Ferries’ Watsons Bay service. For many years, this was where Greycliffe embarked and disembarked her passengers. © Graeme Andrews Collection
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Sydney society of the time is strongly evoked through material from the court cases, information about those involved and responses in the press as well as from many other sources.
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This is a factual account but one that includes the colour of every day life in Sydney in another era and recreates the texture of ordinary lives lived with the harbour as a major focus and daily thoroughfare. The shock experienced by those involved in the accident is effectively rendered without melodrama and the impact on the communities of Vaucluse and Watson’s Bay is made touchingly clear. This is solidly researched, well-argued history that nevertheless displays compassion for those whose lives were cut short and the families, friends and colleagues that cared for them. Included among the victims were the first female Australian pilot and three generations of the same family.
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Greycliffe; Stolen Lives is written in lucid, logically organised prose with an appealing balance between material of a documentary nature and narrative action. It includes extremely thorough referencing and there is a very strong impression conveyed of exhaustive research and scrupulous note taking.
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(Assessment by Belinda Castles of PROOF Manuscript Assessments & Editorial Services)
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