When I got a bit above myself, when I was growing up, my mother used to bring me back to earth by remarking, "Remember, you come from a long line of cattle thieves
and ship wreckers!"

At the time I didn't really find this contributed in a positive way to my developing self image. With the passing of many years, though, I began to think with fondness of those Scottish ancestors wresting a living in this time-honoured fashion. It was entrepreneurial stuff and they were gutsy survivor icons. It began to worry me, though, when I was studying history in high school, and learned the story behind Australian and Tasmanian origins - my father came from Tasmania. Thoughts of possibly inherited thieving genes preocccupied me, further disturbing my ideas of identity... read more >>