Peter Temple
Peter Temple is a South-African born writer of Australian crime fiction. I’ve now read two books in the Jack Irish series: Bad Debts and Dead Point.
I’ve actually met Peter Temple. He was a lecturer in journalism at RMIT when I started a course there in 1986. My academic career was brief, as I left after a couple of months to begin a cadetship at Bairnsdale.
The RMIT journalism degree at that time was considered prestigious, with only about 35 students and just one other comparable (but inferior) degree in Victoria at Deakin University.
I remember being interviewed by Temple as part of the selection process. I also recall him as an incisive lecturer who impressed upon us the importance of concise writing.
That trait is evident in his fiction. I was attracted to these books because I knew the author and I knew the setting was Fitzroy.
Jack Irish, seemingly like many detective heroes, is a reformed alcoholic. He’s also a gambler and lawyer. He follows Fitzroy before they merge with Brisbane, lives in Fitzroy, haunts local pubs, stumbles through relationships and meets some nasty characters in the course of his work.
I enjoyed these novels, which can genuinely be described as entertaining. The parts of Melbourne that he describes, and the nostalgia for Fitzroy, have meaning for me.
The gambling connections, through an associate who’s an ex-jockey turned professional punter, are amusing and revealing.
It’s one thing to say these books are entertaining, but it would be another entirely to say there are literary masterpieces.
They’re not. They’re well written, but in a simple uncomplicated way. I struggled to find any moral or theme in these stories, except the good guy always wins.
The fictional corruption within government and business was far fetched, in my opinion, and unfair to the vast majority of honest public officials given their freshness in terms of time.
I couldn”t help comparing these novels with James Lee Burke and his Dave Robicheaux character. Robicheaux battles evil within himself as well as on the streets. He knows when he’s crossing the line between good and bad, and grapples internally with the consequences.
Jack Irish lives on the edge of the law, pushes ethics to the limit and lives the lifestyle of a single middle-aged man with an ego.
As mentioned, this can be entertaining, but doesn’t leave the reader with any take-home message or social insight.
I also found the use of dialogue confusing. Bad Debts, in particular, features several long conversations in the opening chapters. It was hard initially to understand their significance. Temple could have used narrative more to set the scene.
Consider these books if you’re looking for a good read with a Melbourne flavor, but don’t expect to be challenged or provoked.
PS: This review was transferred across from my old Blog on April 9, 2004. The old entry had a comment added from someone claiming to be Peter Temple, and I believe it probably was him.
The comment: Dear Michael Gorey: In view of the sentence below, I don’t think you spent long enough at RMIT. It says that the vast majority of honest public officials are fresh in time.
The fictional corruption within government and business was far fetched, in my opinion, and unfair to the vast majority of honest public officials given their freshness in terms of time.
The twins in Bright
Juliet recovered quickly from the caesarean in Wodonga on Tuesday and was cleared by her doctor to return to Bright yesterday (Thursday). The twins are doing well too and their doctor also agreed they could come back to Bright.
I’m happy to say that Juliet and I were very pleased with the medical care we received at Wodonga Hospital. The midwives were great and our doctors were terrific.
Thanks to our private health insurance we had choice of doctors and the specialists were excellent, attentive and helpful.
It’s nice to have Juliet and the twins closer to home in Bright though. It means we can see them more often and the other kids feel more involved.
I rode the bike into town today (6km each way). I don’t have much time for walking at the moment and the ride is good exercise.
I’ll do the same tomorrow and Sunday while the older kids stay with friends. We’ve had great support from the local community and many people have assisted us in small but significant ways.
To close this topic for today I admit to struggling with how to spell the word “caesarean”. It doesn’t matter how many times I use it, I have to look it up in the dictionary.
The twins hatch
Well it’s almost sunk in that I’m a Dad again. The twins were dragged reluctantly into the world at 10.26am and 10.27am on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 almost two weeks before Juliet would have been full term in her labor.
The vital details:
James Peter, weight 6lb 12oz
Margaret Johanna, weight 6lb
Mum and babies are doing well. Hopefully they can shift to Bright Hospital, closer to home, on Friday or Saturday.
I was in the operating theatre with Juliet for the birth and watched Margaret being extracted. The doctor basically just pulled her out gracelessly by the leg.
I also saw James welcome the world by piddling on the doctor who had so rudely interrupted his contentment.
James took a while to clear the mucus, or whatever it is, from his lungs, so they placed him in a crib for the day to regulate his breathing. He was out this morning and both babies have sampled breastmilk.
We’ll keep using the nicknames we gave them of Tiger and Angel. Regarding their proper names:
James Gorey was my great-great grandfather who came from Ireland in 1841, so little James is the sixth generation in Australia to bear that name, missing only my generation (I have no Gorey brothers or first cousins). There’s also been a Margaret in every generation. Peter is my father’s name and is a common name in my mother’s family (Wassenberg) from the Netherlands. Johanna was my grandmother’s name on mum’s side and is the Dutch spelling.
It’s an exciting time and we now look forward to the babies coming home.
Zimbabwe Situation
It’s disappointing how little media coverage there is in Australia these days of the ongoing chaos in Zimbabwe.
Nothing much has changed in the past couple of years, except we hear and read less about it.
I monitor various Internet news services and would like to mention an excellent web site called Zimbabwe Situation. It reproduces news items from various sources, including the farmer’s group Justice for Agriculture.
On another web site I found this pointed joke:
___________________________________________________________
Robert Mugabe and his chauffeur were out driving in the country and accidentally hit and killed a pig that had wandered out on a country road. Mugabe told the chauffeur to drive up to the farm and apologise to the farmer.
They drove up to the farm, the chauffeur got out and knocked on the front door and was let in. He was in there for what seemed like hours. When the chauffeur came out, Mugabe was confused and asked his driver why he had been in there so long.
“Well, first the farmer shook my hand, then he offered me a beer, then his wife brought me some cookies, and his daughter showered me with kisses,” explained the driver.
“What did you tell the farmer?” Mugabe asked.
The chauffeur replied: “I told him I was Robert Mugabe’s driver and I’d just killed the pig.”
___________________________________________________________
Seriously though, Zimbabwe is a basket case thanks to Mugabe’s destructive policies, which effectively amount to ethnic cleansing.
I read recently that Zimbabwe has had to import fuel from Zambia. This would be like Australia importing fuel from New Guinea. Zimbabwe used to be one of the richest and happiest countries in Africa. The current situation is an absolute tragedy.
Eurobin Gap
My work commitments are stacking up for later in the week, so I took advantage of a break in the weather to head on a long bush walk today. That’s one advantage of working just 30 hours per week.
Juliet drove with me up the One Mile Creek Road a few kilometres towards Mount Porepunkah. I walked from there to the summit, which took just over an hour.
I started early and walked in shade. There was a cool breeze above 1000 metres at that time of the day.
Using the local Victorian topographic map as a reference I wanted to come down along the Eurobin Gap Track, which intersects with One Mile Creek Road just below the summit.
As the map indicated there were three dips from 1100 metres to below 900 and up again. The track appears rarely used and simply follows the range. Two of the climbs were pretty steep, but I didn’t mind that after skipping part of the ascent up Mount Porepunkah.
After three mini peaks the track drops to 900 metres and levels out for a short distance. There’s a final high point, which offers good views across Happy Valley towards the Kiewa. The track then descends steeply to Eurobin Gap.
While walking down I could see rain coming up the valley and heard some thunder. I could also see it clearing in the distance. Apart from the possibility of lightning, my main concern was heavy rain making the steep track slippery. Fortunately the weather skirted around me and remained fine.
Eurobin Gap provides a link between Porepunkah and Havilah, used infrequently by a handful of farmers and forestry people. I planned to walk all the way back to town along the Porepunkah Gully Road and rail trail, but as luck would have it there were loggers at work.
A sign said the road was closed. I could see logs piling up ahead and decided to detour on Ortlipps Road, which follows the contour of the hill nearly parallel with Porepunkah Gully Road.
I shouldn’t say “nearly” because it actually loops away, dips and rises. Walking conditions were hard after the steep descent and it probably added 40 minutes to my trip.
So rather than walk into Porepunkah along the rail trail I called Juliet on the mobile and she met me along the Great Alpine Road. The total trip was six hours.
It was mostly through native forest, which I prefer, but I didn’t see much wildlife. There was one lyrebird, a few kookaburras and a big grey kangaroo along Eurobin Gap Track. I don’t think he sees many people. He just stopped and stared before hopping away without any concern whatsoever.
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