Dead Cert - Stories from Thames, Paeroa and Waihi cemeteries.

The dead speak if you listen and the resting places of our early settlers hum with the murmur of stories.

I have a completed book of the tales that lie behind the headstones in Thames and districts cemeteries. They are a collection of my columns which were published in the Peninsula Press, Thames, and were very popular.

The stories cover the mid 1800s to the 1920s when life was hard and death was easy. It came by train, boat, drink or horse. It came from falls - of earth, off carts, out of trees. It came in the rivers, the sea, the humble hearth and home. It came for babies, particularly those unwanted, and felled children by bacteria now curable. It waited in mines and in the bush inflicting dreadful injuries which were worsened by the time and sheer effort it took to get medical aid. Often this meant cobbled together stretchers, bumping horse and buggies, slow trains and steamers. Hours, sometimes days, in unspeakable pain coupled with lack of medical knowledge usually had fatal consequences.

The book is in PDF format ready to print, the cover designed and it has an ISBN number and barcode. All the hard yards are done but I have found obtaining after-funding for a project difficult. I need to raise funds to cover the initial printing cost only. Once selling, I will be able to fund further print runs.

I am the author of two books - 'The Coming Year - A Look back at Thames' and 'A Line of Duckboards - More Thames Tales' , and editor of 'From Goldmine to Firing Line - The Thames and the Great War 1914- 1918.'

My books have been dramatised for the Thames Heritage Festival and I currently write local history columns for the Grahamstown Gazette and the Mercury Bay Informer.

I have loved documenting the lives and deaths of the district's early settlers. It is privilege to give readable, interesting history back to the area and with your help I can continue.