Where’s Dr Frederick Harrison Quaife?

Greg Riley, the psychic who won THE ONE and who always stays at The Hughenden was on a mission to discover The Hughenden stories.

He found Dr Harrison Quaife who brought the first x-ray to the colony  and was a founding father of the British Medical Association and Astronomical Association in Australia.

The Morning Show on Channel 7 was filming Greg and the Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigator team as they investigated.

Fred (as the cheeky media personality Todd McKenny called him – Todd’s always a joker) – was much loved, like his father Barzillai Quaife – Australia’s first philosopher.

Fred and Barzillai both lived on Queen Street Woollahra in Sydney and influenced what Australia would become.

Barzillai Quaife wrote:-

‘Men may be foreigners but they are

men. They may be uncivilised but they

are yet men. They may be savages

but they still are men. One nation may

not oppress another. The natural rights

of man are universally the same ….” Barzillai Quaife 1872

Check out Channel 7 youtube to see it live:-  http://yhoo.it/IUpZT7 

The Hughenden supports Room to Read www.roomtoread.org; Books in Homes Australia www.biha.org; Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators SCBWI,The national Year of Reading 2012

Amazing Psychic Medium Greg Riley is The One

GREG Riley is a medium and he told me some exciting things when we had coffee at The Hughenden. But I’m not telling until they come true.

He has kept a secret for most of his 36 years – he has psychic powers and it’s true.

Greg said that he has been having paranormal experiences since childhood.

“I used to be an altar boy,” Riley says. “I’d be sitting there during a funeral service and up at the back of the church I would see the person who is in the coffin watching their own funeral.

Because I was Catholic, I didn’t mention it, ever.” 

Greg won The One: Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic, hosted by children’s author and TV personality Andrew Daddo.

A joyous Christmas love Susanne Gervay

Christmas Wishes

So your great wish is to be a successful a writer or an illustrator? Hey, let’s be honest, you want to be JK Rowlings. Harry Potter, move over. Well, here’s some sound advice:-

 The wastepaper basket is the writer’s best friend.

- Isaac Bashevis Singer

 Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.

- Richard Curtis

 I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.

- Peter de Vries

 I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.

-Oscar Wilde

 The following is very good advice, even if you want to spit and you’ve been crushed and you know if only they could see, they’d get it, but they are too limited and you’re suffering. Follow this advice carefully:-

 Never throw up on an editor.

- Ellen Datlow

So you still wish to be a major writer or illustrator?  Reality check:-

Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman’s name out of a satire then wrote a piece so that she could still be recognized anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to a writer – and if so, why?
-Bennett Cerf

All art requires courage. 

~Anne Tucker

Have courage because creating is the way to the heart. Whatever the challenges, pitfalls, crashes, there’s the top of the mountain, the sky. There’s finding joy, insight, laughter and tears and the privilege of inviting others to share it all.

This is my wish for you all and my quote:-

 Create because it’s you.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas and New Year and may 2012 be a year of creativity.

Proud to be an Ambassador for The National Year of Reading and an author ambassador for Room to Read bringing education to the children of the developing world.

Love

National Year of Reading 2012, Susanne Gervay Ambassador for National Year of Reading 2012, www.love2read.org.au

Susanne

Carols, Courtney Severini & singing staff of The Hughenden wish you a joyous festive season

Sound of Music in The Hughenden Victorian lounge with Courtney Severini playing the baby grand and singing carols, joined by our night audit Greg who doubles as an actor and singer; and by Erin our breakfast floor staff who’s a song writer singer.

The Hughenden is filled with singers, writers, actors, musicians who also work in all aspects of the hotel. Close to the Australian Film School, Metro Films, Fox studios, music venues, The Hughenden has an artistic/creative soul.

The Hughenden supports Room to read, bringing literacy to the children of the developing world.

www.roomtoread.org

Psychic Susan Taylor, Author Felicity Pulman, Pianist Tom Marr~ another day at The Hughenden

Another day at The Hughenden:-

- a gathering of authors including Moya Simons, Vashi Farrer, Mary Small, Patricia Bernard to celebrate Felicity Pulman’s final 2 books in her historical romances Janna Mysteries  www.felicitypulman.com.au

- a meeting with Stephan Wellink the Executive Producer who is working on a feature film of my JACK books.

- lunch with Mara Williams in transit from a Feminist Conference in Adelaide stopping at The Hughenden before she heads home, the daughter of US author and friend Suzanne Morgan Williams www.suzannemorganwilliams@charter.net

- in it’s early stages, I read Suzanne’s manuscript of her moving expose of soldiers coming home to rural USA in the award winning  Bull Rider – Margaret K. McElderry Books

- dinner with my favourite psychic Susan Taylor who does readings at The Hughenden and is here for some media  www.susantaylor.com.au/

-  enjoying the music of pianist Tom Marr on the baby grand over dinner

- the famous Hughenden passionfruit souflee left everyone speechless!!!

Author Jean Chapman Donates Hans Christian Andersen Collection to Network at The Hughenden

Jean Chapman’s collection of Hans Christian Andersen and other children’s books are on display at The Hughenden Woollahra Sydney.Jean Chapman is one of Australia’s best-loved writers for children. She lived in Sydney & studied at the National Art School.Jean began writing stories for pre-school children for the ABC Kindergarten of the Air & spent 25 years as a scriptwriter for ABC children’s radio & television programs like “Play School”.Jean is widely known for her retelling of traditional stories & collections of stories, poems & songs are the loved, Velvet Paws and Whiskers & Pancakes & Painted Eggs.Jean donated her collection of children’s books to the Children’s Writers & Illustrators Network at The Hughenden. Thankyou to Margaret & Max Hamilton for bringing the books down from the Blue Mountains to the Hughenden.                                                    15 July 2011