We felt that the joint fundraising campaign by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) North Australia and Mackay Hospital Foundation (MHF) to build a Family Room at Mackay Base Hospital was the perfect fit. The Family Room will provide a much needed service that will benefit local Whitsunday children and families needing to travel to Mackay for health services.

The Ronald McDonald Family Room, will provide a homelike environment close to the Children and Adolescent Unit, and provide free services and support volunteers to enable family members of hospitalised children to have respite from the ward and increase their overall well-being.

You can read more about the the fundraising campaign and make a donation here: https://nafundraising.rmhc.org.au/mackayfamilyroom

Stella Life Care is passionate about supporting local causes that matter to our community and we look forward to seeing the Ronald McDonald Family Room open at Mackay Base Hospital later this year.

The post Supporting Ronald McDonald House’s Family Room Campaign in Mackay appeared first on Stella Community.

The voyage over to Australia is filled with vivid detail of the harshness of their circumstances on the ship, when, due to her husband’s argumentative and troublesome undertakings with the crew, they are literally nailed into their cabin. Elizabeth also looses a baby she gives birth to during the crossing, a tragic event she carries with her for the rest of her life.

As she settles into her new surroundings in the new colony, she will think constantly of her old home back in England. She tries to not hope too much to return as soon as possible so as not to feel too bitterly how much she has lost in her marriage.

Then she meets the astronomer Mr Dawes, an elusive figure living away from the main township of the colony to watch the stars. Through him she will learn more about the local Indigenous community, who live alongside the British settlement, on the land that they are now sharing with the colonists. This part of the book is the sunniest in colour and content, and Elizabeth slowly comes to love her new home.

The style of this novel is very beautiful, and we get a realistic sense of what it was like to live in those far away times, and being a woman in a new British colony of the other side of the world. I recommend this book if you like historical fiction, and even if you just enjoy reading about extraordinary women who overcome odds stacked against them. It is a lovely and instructive read.

Book review by Emily

About Emily

Emily is an avid reader and talented writer with a Masters in Literature who has kindly offered to share periodic book reviews with our community.

The post Book Review: A Room Made Of Leaves by Kate Grenville appeared first on Stella Community.