Towering over the entire landscape is Mount Warning, the ancient plug of a super volcano. As you approach from north, west or east this gigantic monolith dominates the skyline. Other mountains that border the massive caldera are dwarfed in the background.

Nestled in the lush green pastures beside the gentling flowing Tweed River are the towns of Murwillumbah and Tyalgum. It is in this setting that the novel DESTINATION DAINTREE had its genesis.

The Stewart family ventured overland from the Richmond River area to take up selection 14 on the Bray’s Creek and set up their dairy farm.

There would be a total of 15 children produced by William John and Mary Jane. With the exception of  Claude, the eldest, all the other children grew up in the Tyalgum farmlands.

In the family of 15 there were two sets of twins, Marion and Hersee then Mary and William John who was called Jack. Four of the boys went away in the army to France. Rueben paid the ultimate sacrifice, Don was shot in the buttock by friendly fire but survived, Hersee was wounded in the arm and was repatriated and finally Jack spent four years in the medical field camps.

Marion met and married Burton Borregard Johnson and after having five children set off for the Daintree. The novel DESTINATION DAINTREE depicts the struggles, tramuas and tragedies that beset the family that resulted in Burton’s decision to relocate.

Jack was an intriguing character as in his youth he was badly injured as a wood cutter. He survived and became a photographer. Later he joined the Medical Corps as outlined above. Many of his photograhs adorn the walls of the Tyalgum Hall and are in the book History of Tyalgum and District.

Frank was the youngest child and through his mother’s ministering became a man of the cloth. Rose was Marion’s sister and they were close. She married Henry John Smith and they lived their entire lives in the Bray’s Creek area.

Readers of the book DESTINATION DAINTREE will meet and enjoy the company of the real life characters mentioned above as they go about their lives in the delightful settings around Murwillumbah, Tyalgum and Bray’s Creek.