Recollection and Reconstruction
Looking back over my experience of The North doesn't just involve memories. If it did, things would be (relatively) straightforward. Place the memories on a timeline and work from there. On that basis, with the Hughes family's relocation to Townsville in August 1963, the narrative falls naturally into three parts. It's a before, during, and after story: what we left behind, how we got there, and what we found. That's the Recollection. Easy peasy. Reconstruction is trickier and comes as I try to piece together the details of how things looked back then.
We left an older, rather strait-laced part of Brisbane behind us, landed right in the middle of Townsville's original footprint and ended up on what was, at the time, the fringe of suburbia.
After a brief Preface and Foreword, Northward Bound propels us into the unknown. What We Left Behind delves into a genteel inner suburb of Brisbane, revealing unexpected historical significance. What We Found tracks through our temporary stay in Townsville's original footprint before we finally settle on the city's outskirts.
Autobiographical details and other speculative content have been hived off into a new section devoted to Reflection and Reminiscence.
