One of five children, Geoffrey Blainey recalls a carefree childhood spent in rural Victoria, from Terang to Leongatha, Geelong to Ballarat, surrounded by books. These places ignited for him a great affection for the Australian landscape, and a deep curiosity in Australia's history. As a Newtown newsboy he developed a thirst for current affairs, following the unfolding drama of the Second World War and the political careers of local identities John Curtin and Robert Menzies. He longed to travel, and would climb atop the roof of their home to stare out at the Great Dividing Range and imagine the world beyond.
A scholarship to Wesley College further instilled a great love of learning, which flourished later at the University of Melbourne as both student under Manning Clarke, and lecturer. Later both became friends, serving on the Whitlam Government's new Literature Board. Adventure always beckoned; he hitched to Sydney with a schoolfriend to see the harbour that greeted the First Fleet, and visited the national theatre of Parliament House on the way home to see Billy Hughes, JT Lang, Arty Fadden, Arthur Calwell, Enid Lyons and hero Ben Chifley in action.
Hours spent at Melbourne's State Library as a student poring over the country's old newspapers cemented his calling to become a professional historian and writer, compelled to visit the places of our historical interest, and beyond, including places of archaeological and Indigenous significance. His groundbreaking early book The Tyranny of Distanceoffered Australians a new understanding of ourselves and catapulted a new phrase into the vernacular. From the 1970s he was a trailblazer speaking on the influence of climate on our nation's history. Now the author of over forty books, Geoffrey Blainey claims he has discovered Australia's history his own way - and is still learning.
Warm, lively and lyrically written, Before I Forgetrecounts the experiences and influences that have shaped the astonishing mind of Australia's most remarkable historian. But in this book Blainey has given us something more - a fascinating and affectionate social history in and of itself.
