General News
25 April, 2023
Ode to 1960s seaside town
Debut novel offers fascinating insight to coastal life more than 60 years ago
PORT Douglas-born author and poet Sandra McCallum has put her fascinating life to paper with her first novel, The Kid from Port Douglas.
In her first autobiographic novel, Ms McCallum brings audiences into the Port Douglas of the 60s to tell the tale of her family heritage and her adventures as a child and teenager in the shire.
“It’s taken me seven years to write this book,” she said.
“And it got to the point where I could no longer not write the book.
“It starts with my grandmother being born in Port Douglas in 1902, and her father was the editor and part owner of the Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette.
“He fought for the railway line to be put into Port Douglas so that sugar could be shipped into town. It added new life to the town after its demise following the huge boom of the 1800s with the Palmer River gold rush, and my great-grandfather was a part of that.”
Ms McCallum’s father would arrive in Port Douglas in 1966, where they would take ownership of an iconic local restaurant that would be the setting of her childhood adventures and misfortunes.
“We took a lease on the Nautilus, a very iconic, beautiful restaurant on the hill,” she said.
“We were there for two years. After the restaurant went bust, they bought a shop opposite the sugar wharf and turned it into a restaurant, the Catalina, where I spent all my life until I left home and joined the navy when I was 17.”
Ms McCallum said that what made The Kid from Port Douglas a must-read went beyond her stories. It would appeal to history enthusiasts and locals whose families had been in the shire for generations.
“The book’s got a lot of Port Douglas history,” she said.
“They can read about the people that first came to town, what they did, when they left. Iconic people from Port Douglas, I’ve blurred their names, but people who were there at the time will know who they are.
“The book also goes through my life after I left Port Douglas and joined the navy and went overseas and worked in London for Arabs. It’s just an interesting read.”
It covers her reign as Miss Mossman in 1976, to joining the navy at 17, and becoming a reality tv star.
The Kid from Port Douglas has no shortage of funny and dramatic stories that tell a coming-of-age tale of Ms McCallum and the town that raised her.
The Kid from Port Douglas can be bought online or at Cairns Books in Cairns Central shopping centre.
