Publications
As an aspiring Author, I’ve worked on a number of texts, and so far three that I’ve worked on have been published, here is some information about:
- Nothing’s Impossible: The Alan Rea Story (2009)
- The Vasek Klouda Manual: How to Play Footbag (2009)
- Burtta Cheney: A Life in Golf (2010)
Nothing’s Impossible: The Alan Rea Story (2009) Your Biography. Dan Ednie.
As Alan neared the end of his life, it was decided by his family that such a life could not be left to pass unacknowledged. He was an uncle that I had not personally spent very much time around, he was more or less a stranger, but as a sixteen year old high school student with a passion for writing, I was soon to find out all about a truly illustrious life.
Beverley, Alan’s younger sister, and my grandmother and I, travelled to Alan’s house not far from either of us in Caulfield South. At first it was surprising for me that Alan, as a man that had traveled the globe many times over, was still living in the same area that he had grown up in. Each Sunday Beverley and I were to go to Alan’s in the morning and we recorded on his old tape recorder, everything from his first memory of his visits to Mrs. Sturdge, to the cruises he enjoyed with his friend John Porter in his twilight years. From seven tapes we collected this oral record, from the man himself.
He would sit in quite an upright chair, when there were many other more comfortable chairs in his modest lounge, and Beverly and I would place the recorder near to him, and we would ask questions from time to time. But for the most part, Alan had already an idea of what he would tell us, having been a public speaker for various aircraft organizations and corporate dinners, he also knew how to deliver the stories. When it came time to start writing it up, it was more or less already there in its complete form, and often I’ve needed to offer little or no commentary.
Most curiously, he always sat on a bed pillow, which was so flattened, so much smaller than what you would expect, that it nearly seemed to be a different kind of pillow. The pillow slip was worn away in the middle, and its shape confirmed that it was from being sat on, the same way up, in exactly the same way for years and years. I could hardly understand why he hadn’t turned over the pillow, at least then it wouldn’t have been browning on one side and white on the other. It goes without saying, he wasn’t a man who needed luxury to comfort the soul.
As he told us of his stories, he became for us the man he was during his experiences. We could feel and see visibly how profoundly his life’s moments, friendships and successes still affected him. The monologue style of the interviews, meant that there was this immense body of material which just constantly flowed out, and we were there to soak it up, and in part digest some of the emotional force and content that these words carried.
For me, a boy who had hardly known him as a relative, I was feeling this chronological tour of all that this uncle had pursued and overcome in his life. I had never expected, that there would be so much behind that cheerful face at the family Christmas table – this man I’d known but in passing. Each week I was to be introduced to the next part of his life, and having never known even that he was a pilot before we began, I had no way of guessing what would follow.
On and on we went, and then it came time for me to transcribe all that Alan had said, so that we as a family could maintain his story. We also wanted others who never knew him to enjoy and benefit from hearing his story and his message. At that stage it was a race against time, to transcribe his words and produce a first draft so that he could see where the book was heading. He saw the transcripts, and was happy with the start we had made.
Transcribing these seven tapes brought me ever closer to Alan and typing, and re-listening to so much of his story brought up different emotions the second time around. Alan was in one sense a technically brilliant pilot and business man. But for me it was Alan’s philosophy, the way he approached life, and the unflinching audacity that fed its way through so many of his decisions that epitomised Alan, and what kind of a man he was.
The night before Alan passed away, he rang Beverley and Robbie and asked if they could come to see him straight away. When they arrived he asked them if it was okay with them to let go. Alan left us the next day on the 7th of April 2004 with his family present.
At that stage I was to enter my final year of high school and put all my effort into that. Unable to continue the work myself, the transcribed tapes and the vast annals of Alan’s papers and keepsakes went to Sam Furfy. Sam took over the project in my absence for two years. Then returning to the project for the third time, my aim was to expand, going beyond Alan’s tapes, and collecting more of his ideas, talking more and more to people who knew and loved him to give even more clarity to his story and what he gave to people as a friend and associate.
It has been an adventure, and for me, through the process of writing this book, have found a relative who I had never known. I have found out about his life, but through a comparison that I was able to make between the principles that brought him so much happiness and success, and my own, I have learned just as much about myself as I have learned about him.
Alan’s story is a powerful one, his message ‘Nothing’s Impossible’, was elaborated on through every story of his inspired life. He was truly a Great Australian Aviator, but over and above this, he was an exceptional human being.
The Vasek Klouda Manual: How to Play Footbag (2009) Footbag 4 Fun. Vasek Klouda and Dan Ednie.
The Vasek Klouda Manual: How to Play Footbag is a 90+ page eBook written for everyone from beginners to advanced players. In the five months I spent in the Czech Republic I had access to the inner world of now seven-time world champion Vasek Klouda. In many ways this text is the product of those discussion, my questions and Vasek’s feelings toward footbag as a sport and a lifestyle.
The book is available for download for US$5 with half of all proceeds going to the IFPA to help fund the future of Footbag worldwide. The text covers three core topics: How to train footbag, The psychology of footbag, and the exact trick tips that will help you to master ever set and every downtime component.
http://www.howtoplayfootbag.com/
http://twitter.com/FootbagManual
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Vasek-Klouda-Manual-How-to-Play-Footbag/140638627351
Burtta Cheney: A Life in Golf (2010). Your Biography. Gillian Ednie.
Gillian (mum), Ev and I worked together again on this book. This time however, it was Mum doing the majority of the writing, and I did the transcriptions and helped out with the editing and interviewing.
In 1930, exactly 80 years ago, a fourteen year old girl walked the fairways of Commonwealth Golf Club for the first time. It’s the Australian Ladies’ Championship and the gallery witnessed an exhibition of the best ladies golf in the country. The girl, speechless and spellbound, can only imagine what a joy it is to play, and is imbued from that moment on with an instinctive love of golf. Little could anyone have known that day that the journey of a life-time had just begun. And that the young girl, was in fact Miss Burtta Cheney.
From that seminal moment Burtta went on to become one of the most accomplished and complete golfers in Victoria. A founding member of Eastern, youngest ever captain of Huntingdale at 25, Australian Ladies Champion in 1957, forty years of service in the ALGU and VLGU and founder of the Junior Promotion Camps at Anglesea: Burtta did it all.
In 1937 she became the Victorian Ladies Golf Union’s youngest ever delegate. During 40 years of service, she was Vice President for 11 years, President for two and became a life member in 1983. Together with a devoted group of helpers, she visited every golf club in Victoria to set the women’s scratch score, advise on layout, and place the women’s tees. Before leaving she would also run a clinic for the members, thus completing her mission to improve both the quality of the course and the quality of the play. Always the selfless giver, her parting goodbyes often couldn’t compete with the enthusiasm of her students to use the new knowledge to improve their swings.
Her work on the Junior Promotions at Anglesea was revolutionary, initially full of obstacles to overcome, and then finally adopted nationally. In the words of a recent graduate from Anglesea: ‘The Junior Promotion program that you initiated has given people more than just a game to play. It has given us friendships, life skills, careers and, and for some a whole ‘life’ in golf.’
Many of us have heard the famous stories that made Burtta’s life in golf so famous, however this biography has searched far and wide for the unique and otherwise to be forgotten stories. Collected over a hundred hours of interviews, with Burtta, her friends, family and colleagues, the significance and character of her life is brought out. In amongst the archives, memorabilia, yearbooks, and the memories of those who helped build it, the first era of Australian golf is truly brought to life through Burtta: completely golf.
