About Rosie’s People
The families of all four grandparents of Rosie Hanisch emigrated from Prussia to South Australia in the mid-nineteenth century.
From the earliest days of the new colony, the German immigrants were highly regarded, being ‘exceedingly industrious, sober, and persevering people’, a description which sits well with Rosie’s forebears.
Embracing six generations, the story begins in their homeland villages. It details their subsequent lives in Australia, including aspects of their cultural, social and local history.
The book is richly illustrated with photographs and maps.
Boots Shoes & Seeds
Orphaned at 15 months and consigned to an English workhouse: this was Peter Field’s bleak start in life. But he made the most of his opportunities, and with a sense of adventure, set out for Australia. There, with energy, hard work and entrepreneurial skill, Peter built up a prosperous boot manufacturing business in Toowoomba with retail stores throughout southern Queensland. He survived insolvency in the 1890s depression and contributed generously to the local community and the Church of England.
In retirement, Peter and his wife, Sarah, established one of the most popular guesthouses in Toowoomba, which ran successfully for 30 years.
Peter’s story, told by his great-grandson, is richly enhanced with over 100 photographs, maps and figures.
Boots, Shoes and Seeds: the life of Peter Field, was awarded the 2015 Don Grant Award for a biography with a family history focus by the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies, and the 2017 Family History Book Award by the Queensland Family History Society.