Invitation to Book Launch by Dr Jonathan King Excerpts read and performed by the author.
D r Ken stone was born in Taree in 1944 and spent his early childhood in central New South Wales where his father’s family produced wheat and wool. He spent the later part of his childhood on his grandparents’ dairy farm at Stroud in the Karuah Valley.
After completing teacher training at Bathurst, Stone taught in schools in western New South Wales and in Sydney for twelve years, before moving across to tertiary education and lecturing in Creative Arts for twenty five years. He still pursues his interest in drama, poetry and the visual arts and is an experienced performer of his work.
Aurora Borealis to Botany Bay draws upon Ken Stone’s interest in colonial history and knowledge of Georgian and Victorian society and design. This is his fifth book of poetry.
Copies currently available at The National Trust Online Bookshop. For postal orders email: kenkaruah.stone@gmail.com. For further information about the book visit the websites of Maitland Mercury and Gloucester Advocate.
Wednesday, 10th June, 2015 5:30 p.m. for 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Manning Clark House,
11 Tasmania Circle Forrest.  RSVP to info@manningclark.org.au or (02) 6295 1808
Light refreshments and drinks will be served.
Aurora Borealis to Botany Bay can be purchased for $30 at the launch.

Ken Stone’s epic, Aurora Borealis to Botany Bay, takes us to the icy Arctic with Sir Edward Parry on his heroic search for a northwest passage; then to Australia’s recently mapped hinterland where he consolidates an Australian Agricultural Company settlement, which comes close to failure.  In colonial Sydney, my ancestor, Anna Josepha King, and her contemporaries, including John Macarthur, Archdeacon Broughton and Governor Bourke, live again in a few crisp lines”. Dr Jonathan King, historian and author. 
“Fabulous research and living characters.” Les Murray, Poet.
“A large cast of characters, each appearing in a dazzling spotlight. I would love to hear some of this read” Paul Brunton, historian and senior curator, Mitchell Library.