In this issue

In 1912 the readers of Launceston’s The Weekly Courier could, after catching up on international events, turn their attention to local news contributed by northern Tasmanian corespondents, including Sylvia McArthur, aged 15. Sylvia, a schoolgirl in the small north-western mining town of Balfour, was a budding writer, and her regular newspaper columns engaged and informed readers far beyond her small community. What fate had in store for Sylvia, and Balfour, however, was far removed from any reasonable aspirations or expectations. James Dryburgh went to Balfour, and his retelling of its story, and Sylvia’s, in this issue is utterly compelling. See p14.

In 1913, probably no-one in Tasmania was aware that a southern American company named Joliet Oil Tractor Company started production that year of a model it called The Steel Mule. Probably no-one in Tasmania today knows just how one these came to be abandoned in near-inaccessible, southern Tasmanian bushland. That’s where retired tractor mechanic Brian McDermott found it in 2000. McDermott is a lover of old machines, but rescuing the Mule looked impossible. It wasn’t, but took 13 obstinate men nearly three days to pull it out of the bush. Another lover of old machines, Debbie Rudder, tells the story from p34.

In 1914, two years after war came to the Balkans, much of Europe shouldered arms and marched into World War I. It would lead, in 1919, to a new resident settling in Collinsvale. His name was Peter Boutros, a 13-year-old orphan who had survived the bombing of his school in Tripoli, Libya, in 1917, and who was subsequently adopted by Australian soldiers and brought home to Tasmania. Peter’s descendants are proud of the young man, and the man he became, and were happy to help when historian Gary Barker approached them about writing the story which appears on p24.

Forty South Tasmania Magazine Description:

Tasmania has been described as the world's best-kept secret, but it's not our fault - we have been telling the world about Tasmania for over 20 years. Forty South Tasmania has been described as a lifestyle magazine with brains. It offers three things: interesting features about Australia's island state, good writing and stunning photography. The magazine is a household name in Tasmania, but also has many subscribers elsewhere - people who have visited this beautiful place and now read the magazine for a regular reminder of an extraordinary experience. Forty South Tasmania offers feature stories, and stunning photography, about Tasmanian places and people, tourism, history and lifestyle, and regular columns on Tasmanian food, wine, arts and culture.