I first came to Sydney in 1987 for a short trip and some time later when i was back in England i was browsing through the very end shelves in a bookshop and came across half a dozen Patrick White novels. I vaguely remembered his name from my trip to Australia and so bought Voss as it looked an interesting story. I adored it despite the sometimes rather dense writing and over the next few years i read everything he had written and found it all superb. The Tree Of Man really struck a chord with me for whatever reason.
After quite a few journies to Australia over the next 5 years i managed to emigrate in 1992 and after a 2 month travel around settled in Sydney. I work as a fencer and one of the first jobs i got was up in Castle Hill just around the corner from Dogwoods where he and Manoly lived before their move to Centennial Park. I went round to the house which still stands in a small subdivision which if i remeber bears his name and Nobel Court after his Nobel prize. It was wonderful to see what i had imagined for some time on the other side of the world.
His reputation as a grumpy old sod i think was well deserved. David Marrs biography of him is excellent.
Regards
Paul