An Oondooroo Sky

Book excerpt: Sam Blain and Ben Fisher migrated to Australia from Great Britain in mid-1871 to work on the steam tug the Young Australian, on the Roper River during the construction of the overland telegraph line. Years later, the families moved to Winton, where Sam and Ben worked as shearers at Oondooroo shed and were involved in the shearers strikes of the 1890s. After many years of hardship, World War I arrived. Ben Fisher's son Jack headed back to the Roper River while Sam Blain's son, Jimmy, who had always been interested in the wings of flight, went over to England to join the RAF. When Jimmy arrived home from the war, he found he had a crippled son. This is the life story of the crippled boy, Johnny Blain, who struggled through everyday life but strode to follow in his father's footsteps in the wings of flight.