So I’ve written a small book about the search and the clues which reveal the real identity of Willstown, the name Shute gave to the tiny town shimmering in the vast, golden-grassed tropical savannah of northern Australia. I still wanted to know where the town like Alice was and how it had fared since Shute had painted such an evocative picture of it. When I emigrated to Queensland in 1982 in my late 30s I was still intrigued by the story. But I wanted to know where the town was, what it would be like walking the streets and what sort of people lived there. I read A Town Like Alice when I was a boy in England and despite Nevil Shute’s detailed description of the beautiful but harsh and challenging Gulf Country I had great difficulty in bomb-damaged south London in picturing the scenery. PREMIER FAILS FIRST TEST – HERE ARE THE NEXT CHALLENGES LIES, DAMNED LIES, STATISTICS AND ABBOTTISMS SEVERAL REASONS WHY THIS MAN SHOULD NOT BECOME GOVERNOR WE WHO HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR SORRY HISTORY ARE BEING DOOMED TO REPEAT IT STAND BY FOR A 'TACTICAL LIAR' TO BECOME QLD PREMIER MEMO TO PREMIER: WE HAVEN’T FULFILLED OUR CONTRACT WITH QLD PREMIER REVEALS PRIVATISATION OF ASSETS IS A SCAM SEENEY AND THE NATS TOPPLE NEWMAN AND TREE CLEARING LAWSĪ YEAR OF DISASTROUS GROWTH FOR THE NEWMAN GOVERNMENT NEWMAN CON TRICK AS MAJOR ELECTION PROMISE DITCHED STOP THE CORRUPTION WATCHDOG FROM BECOMING A POLITICAL LAPDOG GOVERNMENT SACKS NURSES AND HIRES SPIN DOCTORS NEWMAN GOVERNMENT DESTROYS PUBLIC’S CORRUPTION WATCHDOG

LOSS OF POWER ASSETS TO PRODUCE SHOCK FARE INCREASESįACT: LNP WIN WILL COST QUEENSLAND FAMILIES MORE THAN $1,000 IN EXTRA TAXES EVERY YEARĬARMODY PROMOTION RANKS WITH ELEVATION OF TERRY LEWIS NEWMAN ELECTION DEFEAT TO LEAD TO HUNG PARLIAMENT? NEWMAN GOVERNMENT SET TO SPEND $1M+ OF OUR MONEY EACH WEEK ON ADSĬRITICAL FIGURES SURGICALLY REMOVED FROM REPORT AFTER HEALTH WAITING LIST NEARLY DOUBLES PREMIER WOOS THE GAP VOTERS WITH WORTHLESS PLAN LNP LIED ABOUT NEWMAN MAKING “SPECTACULAR PERSONAL COMEBACK” NEWMAN GOVERNMENT DITCHES MAJOR TARGET IN QLD PLAN QLD PLAN: MAKE US ALL RICH BUT SOME MORE THAN OTHERS

A town like alice