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by Boomert - Redbill by Kate Lance 19 Jan 2010
Redbill was no ordinary pearl lugger. Built on the beach in Broome in 1903 during the great days of pearl shell fishing, she served in the Royal Navy in World War II as a mobile early warning post for Japanese bombing raids. Among her many lives after the war she hunted for crocodiles in Papua, carried cargo for missionaries, lived with ex-headhunters, and then re-emerged as a Greenpeace protest vessel, sailing the Pacific to defy French nuclear testing in the region. She supported the refugees of East Timor and in 1997 her participation in the Redbill Youth Challenge helped disadvantaged young people. Kate Lance has used Redbill to illustrate the social and historical context of the lugger's many lives and owners. From her time operating out of the bustling port of Broome in the early 1900s, with its issues of racism and the treatment of Asian divers, and ruthless businessmen such as her owner Captain Gregory, through her wartime service to her more recent work with Greenpeace, various scientific groups, the BBC and the Redbill Youth Challenge, Redbill affected the lives of many people during a century of service. A richly illustrated and widely researched book that shows the author's affection for her subject.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Author Biography: Kate Lance
Currently not available.

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Alan Villiers, Hardback (February 2009)

Redbill, Paperback (February 2004)