Members Lounge - Book Club - Wangalpong to Mount Tamborine by Karen Rosser

We are so excited to announce that Karen Rosser has agreed to join our Book Club and share the journey of creating this beautiful work.

Short Review by Nola Fulwood

Published by Judy Webster on her blog: Queensland Genealogy

This meticulously researched and beautifully written history is one we can enjoy as a good read and keep handy for reference. It is written from the point of view of The Mountain and its ancient people. They watched as the volcano rearranged the landscape, the ships sailed by, the explorers ventured north, and settlement began. The author has made extensive use of the eye-witness accounts of those explorers, administrators, surveyors, and settlers. Careful analysis has given an interesting new view of the history most of us learned at school. This is no dry as dust recitation of the bare dates and places but a fascinating story that carries the reader along and encourages us to explore further.

This book started as a family history but developed as the author’s curiosity led to questioning our history as we have known it. We should all have this fascinating history of the beginnings of Queensland on our library shelves.

Nola Fulwood

Karen Rosser

Karen is a fourth-generation Tamborine Mountain local who grew up on a dairy farm on the South End. Her grandfather, Stan Rosser, was just five years old when his family came to The Mountain in 1896, and her father, Allan Rosser, aged 97, still lives there today. An avid historian and bush lover who has travelled extensively, Karen is a retired science and mathematics teacher who now lives in North Queensland with her husband Darby Monro.

For the first decade of her life, Karen looked out on the world through Wangalpong’s eyes. The Logan & Albert valleys and the hinterland rivers that wend their way to the Pacific Ocean, lay on the other side of the Looking Glass. Surrounded by the wonder of this landscape the innocence of her childhood created an indelible impression, and Wangalpong, central to it all, captured her heart at an early age. In all the years that Karen has lived elsewhere, her affinity with this distinctive plateau has never wavered. And like so many others of her generation, The Mountain will always be Home.

This event will be a hybrid event so join us at the Research Centre or online, whichever suits you best.

Can't wait to see your smiling faces :)

Alex