My Early Years Down Under, by John (Jack) Edge, is an autobiographical account of an English migrant trying to find work in Western Australia at the beginning of the Great Depression, 1929–1930. Jack, who had been working in his home town of Leicester, dreamed of escaping to the open spaces of Australia and took an assisted passage out there. However, Western Australia had been hit hard by the depression and so Jack had to turn his hand to whatever (honest) work he could find. Two years later, he had to return to his job in Leicester. Nevertheless, this account, written many years afterwards, records his experience in vivid detail. The book was first published in 2009 and then a revised edition in 2011.
2011 (revised edition), ISBN 978-0-9548390-8-6, Price £12.50