Delightful Tales of historic humanity

AUTHOR and historian Doug Bradby has released two small books as part of a new ongoing miniseries Ten Delightful Tales.

Bridge Street: The Historic Heart of Ballarat, and Merry Christmas from Historic Ballarat are 32-page publications “full of joy, hope and humour,” looking at life in the city between approximately 1860 and 1920.

“It was a gorgeous period of time. Hard work had paid off, people had a few dollars in their pocket, they had some leisure time, and they didn’t know World War One or The Depression were coming,” Bradby said.

“We race through the Bridge Mall, but in 1850, it was the most exciting place in the world, and it changed the world. Tens of thousands of people got an opportunity in life they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

“Bridge Street as The Historic Heart of Ballarat was fabulous. It never was architecturally wonderful, but it was where Ballarat East and Ballarat West all integrated.”

Merry Christmas makes the connection between Ballarat residents now and those living in the same neighbourhoods 160 years ago.

“It’s the awareness that they were as human, as good, as bad, as funny and as silly as us. I recognise myself in their humanity, and that’s what history does,” Bradby said.

“You’re living in 2020, reading about them eating Christmas pudding, having funny hats on their heads and playing with crackers in 1860.

“All the things in the book are so recognisable to what we’ll be doing around the 25th and 26th with child-centred days of feasting.”

Now Ballarat is almost through one of its most challenging years, Bradby said “it’s time to take a gulp of happiness and experience joy of living” again through literature.

He hopes people will slow down this summer to savour the written word like wine.

“We need things that are a bit lighter, to celebrate how good it is to be able to communicate with other human beings.

“Anybody who can link back to enjoying the simple things in life; picnics, shopping, promenading and travelling, will enjoy this series,” Bradby said.

“They’re lighter, frothier books than I’ve done before, and I’ve really enjoyed writing them.”

Bradby is planning to produce more Ten Delightful Tales each month. They are available at Collins on Lydiard and in the Bridge Mall, at Campion Education Sebastopol and Crawford’s Pharmacy.