The Mareeba Heritage Museum hosted the country book launch of author Lennie Wallace's sixth book, 'From Nanango to Cooktown'.

The CQU Press publication is a Queensland memoir of the great depression and the war years of the 30s and 40s.

Lennie Wallace's previous books include 'Bow Waves in the Bull Dust', 'Dad and Joey in Possum Gully', 'Nomads of the Queensland Goldfields', 'Butcher's Hill' and 'Cape York Peninsula. A History'. Publisher of CQU Press Professor David Myers welcomed everyone and said that this was the first book he had published that was written by a dog, namely Lennie's Chihuahua Pixie. Lennie had just helped Pixie a bit with the spelling and the grammar.

About 50 people listened to the launch speech by Rosa Lee Long MP. Rosa listed the places that Lennie as a dutiful daughter had lived in as she followed her father and mother on their tour of duty.

Lennie's father was a mining warden and magistrate. His appointments took him from Nanango near Kingaroy to Tully, to Charleville, to Charters Towers, to Cooktown, then back to Bundaberg and finally on to marriage at Butcher's Hill cattle station out of Cooktown. The book is an intimate social history of that era.

Local journalists and photographers covered this happy launch which was also attended by veteran FNQ historian and publisher Glenville Pike and magazine publisher Reg Darkey. Glenville has authored more than 20 books on the pioneers of FNQ and the NT and is a local celebrity, now in his 80s.

Photo (above): Professor David Myers, author Lennie Wallace, Chihuahua Pixie and Rosa Lee Long MP.

Photo (left): Veteran FNQ Publisher Glenville Pike, Lennie Wallace, Pixie and David Myers.