It was standing room only at the official launch of Delwyn (Del) Richards's book 'My Country Life... for what it's worth' at the Singleton Library on Friday morning.
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Del’s family were early settlers of the Mount Olive/St Clair district of Singleton and his book contains their history along with the agricultural history of the Valley and beyond.
Forty years in the making the book also covers his life on the rodeo circuit, outback travel and life living and working in Far North Queensland.
He made the trek south from his home of 23 years Mossman, where he runs Fine Feather Tours an enterprise that combines his passion for native bird life and photography, to launch the book in his home town.
At the launch were members of the Richards family along with current and former residents of Mt Olive and areas to the north including Dawsons Hill and Bowmans Creek plus some of Del’s former schoolmates.
Reciting some of the stories in his book about the characters he has met Del said his life was full of ups and downs but also such a wonderful experience living and working in the bush.
One of the chapters covered in the book was the history of northern Australia in particular life in that part of the country during World War 2.
“Talking to people who lived in the north during the war was extremely interesting and I was able to find out that the Japanese landed 41 times on Australian soil during this period,” he said.