Whitewash – The Lost Story of an African Australian

WHITEWASH –The Lost Story of an African Australian has been shortlisted by the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Australian Association for Maritime History for the 2022 Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Book Prize. The 'Saltwater People' companion books were the recipients of this award back in 2013.

A true story of breathtaking scope that follows a family’s journey across several centuries, from First Peoples genocide and the transatlantic slave trade to flight and freedom in a new land, punctuated by some of the most significant conflicts in human history. It is also the story of race, identity and the whitewashing of Black and Indigenous history.

George ‘Bernie’ Showery was born in Sydney, Australia, in the years prior to Federation. Abandoned by his African-American father when he was just three years old, an eccentric father figure would later introduce him to carefree days at Freshwater Beach. It was here, in the summer of 1914-15, that Duke Kahanamoku would demonstrate his graceful ability to walk on water, with the ocean serving as both a stage and a supreme metaphor for change.

Soon after, Bernie Showery would be called away to fight for the British Empire, serving in the Middle East with the legendary Australian Light Horse and the Imperial Camel Corps. Fighting alongside Lawrence of Arabia, he would witness the great cavalry charge at Beersheba, the fall of Damascus, and the maneuvering behind the British carve-up of Palestine.

Published by Cyclops Press in Australia.