John McGregor 
Field of Thunder [EPUB ebook] 

Field of Thunder is a work of historical fiction and high adventurebased primarily on the exploits of Lewis Lasseter, a prospector andexplorer who in the early 1930s held Australia and much of the worldenthralled. He had recounted the tale of having discovered a fabulous reef of near-pure gold in the central australian desert some thirty years before andthereby caught the attention of a nation. Day by day the media of the period followed the progress of the bestequipped expedition ever to enter central australia as it sought torelocate the reef. The unfolding gloom of the Great Depression wasbriefly forgotten in favour of Lasseter, the Robin Hood of the day, ashe and the expedition sought to relocate this fabulous treasure. The story begins with the young Lasseter’s expulsion from school andhis subsequent apprenticeship into exploration and prospecting in the wastelands of Western Australia. Great moments in Australian Historyare given commercial appeal and woven throughout the narrative in astyle reminiscent of Wilbur Smith. The reader, through Lasseter, is ledback to the turn of the century gold discoveries near the embryonic Alice Springs, then taken to the unexplored wastelands of ‘the center’. He becomes hopelessly lost, parched and under threat of murder at thehands of hostile natives. At his lowest moment, he stumbles upon a reefof unimaginable richness, only to lose it again after becoming disorientatedand near to perishing in the sandy wastes. Rescue (and some soft historical insight into the Afghanistan of the mid-1800s) comes from an unlikely source, an Afghan camel driver and loveablevillain of the outback, who saves Lasseter’s life then transports him to anearby cattle station. More easy history envelopes Ah Lee, a Chinese physician turned gold seeker, fugitive and now station cook, who nurses the young man back to health onthe station. Lies, deception and Aboriginal magic, Kadaitcha, together with Lasseter’s psychotic fear enshroud the location of the reef for the next thirty years. The exigencies of the Depression and family catastrophe force him to reveal its existence and agree to lead an expedition to relocate it. Lasseter loses his life under remarkable circumstances and the secret of the reef dies with him. In 1953, extraordinary events are again brewing in central australia that willfinally explain why hundreds of expeditions since Lasseter have failed to locatehis ‘Eldorado’ and why any future attempts will most likely fail. The true nature of the land, it’s vastness and vengeance against those whowould plunder or corrupt it underscore the dominant story of high adventure, death, privation and lost treasure. Aboriginal issues are explored and their skills, customs and taboos graphically, yet sensitively treated by an author who grew up with them in the outback asplaymates, mentors and life-long friends. Field of Thunder is, above all else, a compelling story of Australia, the real Australia, and of the people, passions and tragedies that have all contributedto its unique character.