Potatoes to Gold

'Potatoes to Gold' is a short story set in the late 1890s, during the West Australian gold rush, and offers an insight into the living conditions that outback pioneering families endured. The story is told from the perspective of a bright, young girl, Cathleen Sophia, who reveals her love of the outback and her devotion to her grandmother, Bridget. And her fear of having to leave them both.

Throughout this piece of historical fiction, Bridget's story is also revealed which tells of an Irish girl who is sent to Australia at the age of twelve and spends the remainder of her life adapting to the loss and hardship her new home presents. Her joy and hope and reason for living lie in her granddaughter, Cathleen Sophia, but what happens when inevitable circumstances force yet another change.

'Potatoes to Gold' is inspired by the author's great great-grandmother who was sent to Australia from Ireland at the age of twelve. She died in 1898 in Cue, Western Australia.