I love history, all history, but especially Australian history. My first novel Harriet and the Secret Rings has my protagonist and her friend travelling through time to ancient Rome, ancient Greece and Sherwood Forest. I researched the backgrounds of each time period, the lifestyle, culture and setting. I loved what I discovered, and whilst I am a fantasy/fiction writer, everything I write is based around historical fact. Our recent holiday was also a fact finding/research task, as my next novel, Harriet and the Secret Coins is based on the Australian goldrush. (More time-travel involvement.) The book will be in three parts, just like the first one. My original plan was to have the children arrive in Lambing Flat (Young, NSW close to my home town), then Hill End in NSW and finally Ballarat in Victoria, whilst on a school excursion. The first part of the book is written, and the two friends find themselves landing in the middle of the Lambing Flat riots in 1861. My husband and I visited the Eureka museum at Ballarat, then travelled to Bendigo to stay the next day. The last time I was in Bendigo was in the 80's, and I didn't remember much about the town. After visiting the Central Deborah gold mine, I have decided to change the setting for the third part of my book to this gold mine. There is a legend associated with how the name of the mine came to be established, that is both romantic and tragic, and definitely too good not to use. The interesting contrast with this mine is that whilst gold was discovered there in the 1800's, it was not a working mine until 1939. It ceased operation in 1954. This will give me a good contrast to the two earlier parts where the children visit old gold mining areas, as far as mine operation is concerned. My other original idea was to have Harriet discovering a long-lost nugget, so that she can cash it in and help out her mother and stepfather with their financial difficulty. It was interesting to read the story of a man who discovered such a nugget, called The Hand of Faith, as recently as 1980, whilst using a metal detector. It added some credibility to my notion, and has further fired my inspiration. Research can be time-consuming, sometimes tedious, but always fun (well, at least in my mind). The old saying truth is stranger than fiction still stands. I believe, in order to make my writing believable, it needs to be based on research and actual events, with fiction thrown in. Thank you to all those tireless people who have gathered information over so many years to share with the general public. Our lives would be rather poorer without them.