Albany Unravelled: History book by local historians busts lingering myths and corrects historical record

A new book written by a team of local historians re-examines Albany’s history through extensive research and busts some lingering myths about the City’s past. Albany Unravelled is set to be published in July and covers the period of history from 1791-1927, from early surveys of the area to Albany’s founding, its early key historical figures, experience during World War I and the celebration of Albany’s centenary. It was written by Steffan Silcox and Douglas Sellick over a year, following extensive research. Silcox has had a varied career which has included working as a high school principal and Education Department district superintendent and university lecturer, before his latest focus on historical research, while Sellick is an internationally recognised history and literary researcher and anthologist. The two were introduced to each other by Silcox’s daughter and hatched a plan for writing the book. “Douglas and I had a conversation, we were sitting around, I think it was over scones,” Silcox said. “I said, I’ve always wanted to write a true history of Albany, and Douglas said well, funny about that because I’ve collected so much material.” In 1997 Sellick published an Albany history book, First Impressions Albany Travellers’ Tales 1791-1901, the research for which gave him a good background for Albany Unravelled. While researching their book, the duo sought to find the first recorded mention of events in Albany’s history. They consulted first-hand accounts, including rare books, newspapers, letters, periodicals and journals, some of which were held in collections in places such as London, Windsor, New York, Washington, New Zealand, Sydney, Canberra and Albany. The resulting history is a sprawling historical account, covering a period which the authors say saw the creation of Albany’s unique character. “We chose the period in Albany’s European history that is the most exciting, as far as Western Australia’s development is concerned,” Silcox said. “We start off, of course, with the first visitors here, but we’ve highlighted in chapter one in particular the friendship and amity between (Menang Noongar leader) Mokare and the early European settlers, because Mokare helped a great way in the settlement being actually established. “He was a very advanced thinker in his day. “He could see the potential, and the story of the friendship between the first Government resident Alexander Collie and Mokare is a significant one. “For Collie to put in his will that he wanted to be buried next to his friend Mokare ... it’s quite a phenomenal story.” The book presents new details on many historical events, and challenges some concepts long thought of as fact into merely being myths. One of these is that Albany was once known as Frederickstown, which the book busts by explaining that the name was once suggested for the settlement but rejected because it was already given to towns in countries including South Africa and Canada. The book also unearths some quirky details of the City’s history, including the myth of the “catacombs” underneath the old post office, and the story of how Albany’s bid for succession from WA eventually led to the State joining the Federation. According to Sellick, in the years leading to 1900, Albany had some “strange enemies”, owing to its position as a busy port. “Ships always called at Albany and not Fremantle, because they didn’t have a proper harbour there at Fremantle,” he said. “There was a lot of inter-colonial jealousy, if Fremantle got something Albany had to have one too, that kind of thing.” The tensions between Albany and the wider South West area and Perth built to such an extent that in 1900 a petition was made to Queen Victoria asking to establish Albany as a new colony. This in part caused WA to agree to joining the other States as the Federation of Australia. “It was mainly over WA not wanting to become part of Australia, but Albany wanted to become part of Australia,” Silcox said. “This actually forced John Forrest to agree for WA to join the rest of Australia by them taking that action.” The authors acknowledged that their book may be seen as controversial because of some of the long-held history they challenge. However, they maintain they aren’t wanting to cause trouble and are just committed to ensuring the historical record is correct. “What we’re saying is Albany doesn’t need these myths, it can stand on its own,” Silcox said. “Its history is a powerful history, it has a wonderful history. “It doesn’t need to be embellished by myth. “And so what we’ve said is we’re correcting the historical record, but at the same time, showing what a wonderful record this town has, and can stand on its own two feet without all these myths around it.” Albany Unravelled will be released in July and is available through Paperbark Merchants and on Amazon.