Once it’s all done and dusted, a list of the defining events of Albany’s bicentenary will undoubtedly include the publication of John Dowson’s epic book Early Albany.
It’s set to be published next month, with a formal launch coming at Albany Town Hall on August 27, and it promises to be an impressive tome which combines rigorous research with stunning images and light-touch storytelling.
It would be wonderful to say it has been a labour of love for its author, but it has also been a frustrating and intensive experience, cramming around 3000 research hours into 18 months.
The result, however, is worth every minute of Dowson’s suffering and, while he bemoans the institutions which have been either unhelpful or money-grabbing, it has turned into a stunning showpiece of the city’s long and varied early history.
He has form when it comes to writing about Albany, for his first volume about the city was published to general acclaim in 2008.
However, whereas Old Albany covered 1850-1950, Early Albany deals with previous times, starting in 1595 with the Dutch spy Jan Huygen van Linschoten, moving through to 1688 when former pirate William Dampier was on the shores of WA examining a place with inhabitants he deemed the “miserablest people in the world”.
There’s Vancouver and Flinders, the 1800 Baudin expedition, commissioned by Napolean, Francois Peron (another spy) before the coming of Lockyer, Spencer and Earle, familiar names provided with new insights.
The list of chapters goes on, ending around 1890 with images of Scots’ Uniting Church and Stirling Terrace and an advertisement for the Royal Mail steamships which called in at Albany before heading to the other big cities of the time — Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
The book is 208 pages with a front cover showing marine artist Ross Shardlow’s painting of the 1839 whaler Emerald.
It was a picture chosen by Dowson to reflect the book as a whole.
“It is very atmospheric; it’s full of oil, lumbering out of port heading back to America and crewed by young Americans, some only 15 or 16 years old,” he said.
“It’s a very moving picture and a reminder that, other than the Menang people who lived there, everyone used to approach Albany from the sea.”
Dowson is intrigued by the lives of these intrepid early sailors and navigators, many of whom died young and in unpleasant circumstances.
One of the tales in the book is of Nicolas Baudin, whose diary documents his untimely death from consumption (tuberculosis), literally coughing up his lungs into a glass bottle by his bedside.
Peron, who was on the same venture, was a brilliant naturalist, explorer and historian who died the same way, though not before, according to Dowson, he had claimed all the expedition’s glory for himself.
Even George Vancouver, who was on the beach when Capt. James Cook was murdered, died at 40, only three years after completing his voyages, after being beaten up in London.
“I’ve gone deeper in my research than I would normally do,” Dowson said.
“I’ve tried to tell the stories in a different way, but these figures are all human and humans die.
“I’m not trying to emphasise the deaths or the nasty bits, but a lot of these guys did such amazing work and many died early — there were a lot of tragedies along the way.”
Dowson said one feature of these early times was the way the explorers and navigators interacted with the Menang people.
“These relationships were mainly amazingly amicable,” he said.
“That was probably the case until about 1832 when Stirling wanted the land developed between Albany and Perth and that led to people moving inland and dispossessing the Aboriginal inhabitants.”
The author said he hoped he had covered all bases but was nervous for the launch.
“I think I have dug up everything I can find — it’s not like there are treasure troves still to be discovered — but you always worry that you have the history right.
“People asked me why didn’t I just reprint Old Albany, but I wanted to try and dig under the surface and look at the interaction between Albany’s Menang people and the European visitors.
“It has been totally exhausting.”
His pain is the readers’ gain for rather than rehash his previous work, Dowson set off on an adventure to explore and navigate the earliest days of Albany.
That exploration, with the publication and launch to come, ensures that, unlike many of his subjects, he should at least enjoy a happy ending.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails