GOING DOWN ANOTHER LANE IBD

Sinopsis

John Young first left England, at 10 days old, for Sierra Leone witháhis missionary parents in 1934. Thus began a life of adventure, travel,áand zest for new opportunities. After a childhood spent betweenáAfrica, the Yorkshire moors, and English boarding schools, he set offáat 17 alone for New Zealand to be a forester and then to university,ápaying his way with an assortment of jobs from boatbuilder toáwharfie to postman. Pursuing a career on the stage was somehowácombined with completing an MA degree, as John energeticallyáthrew himself into working out where to live, what to do, and whoáto love. Marriage, a return to England to take a degree at Oxford,áand starting a family, were followed by a move to South Australiaáand an academic career.Through all this, there were always wooden boats. A leaky skiffáheld together with pitch, old rope and a father&rsquo,s love. Summersáspent making himself useful to owners of other boats. A boat to sailas a young couple in New Zealand, a sloop built in the backyardáand sailed amongst the Fijian islands mapping ancient fortifications,áthe 100-foot sail training ship, One and All, built with communityáperseverance and now gracing the waters of South Australia. Boatsábuilt with unique Tasmanian timbers, after John and his wife movedáto Franklin to establish a school of wooden boatbuilding and helpedáa town recover its remarkable maritime identity.At 85, John looks back on the many choices made and turns takenáin his life with some pride in his achievements as well as regret at hisáfailures&mdash,and still wants to build another boat.Dr John Young is the author of Australia&rsquo,s Pacific Frontier (1967),áAdventurous Spirits (1984), A Touch of Magic: The Building of theáOne and All (1984), Sustaining the Earth (1990) and numerous articlesáon New Zealand, Australian, Maritime and Pacific History, environmentaláissues and the educational value of wooden boatbuilding.