Avoiding Study

Today is one of my study days.  I have an exam next week and I have alot of study to do.  Therefore I am here at my computer, reading blogs, doing holiday research and generally avoiding what I ought to be doing.

Our children have begged us to camp somewhere over Christmas, so I have booked us into a lovely looking Campground at Lake Wallaga on the South Coast of NSW.  My reason for choosing this spot is that it is very close to a piece of my family history.

In 1880 my Great, Great Grandfather, Lamont Henry Graeme Young, who was a geological surveyor, was called to the newly discovered Montreal Goldfields near Bermagui, NSW.  While he was there, he and four other men got in a boat and headed up the coast.  They disappeared.  The boat was found in very suspicious circumstances in a bay, now named Mystery Bay, but the men were never seen again.  No trace of their bodies was found... apparently.  You can read about it on wikipedia here.   Cyril Pearl also wrote a book about this, titled 'Five men Vanished'.

Earlier this year when my parents visited me, my Dad went to the records office and took digital photo's of all the original documentation about this event.  He has been going over some of it and has developed his own theory about who was responsible.  This morning I discovered a new article (well, not really new, it's from a newspaper in 1887) with information I had not read before which strongly supports my Dad's theory that Carl Schneider, Lamont's assistant, was responsible for the murder of his companions and was seen numerous times after the event.

This interesting research reminded me of a story I wrote about this event several years ago.  I am a member of an online Christian Writers group named FaithWriters who have weekly writing challenges for their members.  Several years ago we were challenged to write something in the 'mystery genre' and I wrote a story about my family history.  It was titled The Missing Husband and told the story from my Great, Great Grandmother's point of view. I received a 'Highly Commended' for it, which means my story came fourth or fifth in my entry level.  I was pretty excited at the time.

If you are interested in reading my other entries at FaithWriters, visit my FW's profile page.