The Burden Within

Born into a wealthy family in England in 1942, Christopher could’ve expected a privileged life. It was not to be. At six years of age, he entered boarding school. The burden of undiagnosed dyslexia led to an aversion to schoolwork, and violent sexual abuse from a fellow boarder became the impetus for leaving school. He embarked on a life of hard manual labour, before returning to his parents’ farm, but continual frustrations between him and his father culminated in a stint of involuntary commitment. On release in 1964, he left for Australia as a ‘10 Pound Pom’.

For the next ten years, he roamed Australia – working in its cities, rural towns, and outback. But a rolling stone gathers no moss. Christopher, the adventurer, insidiously became a hard-working, hard-drinking and hard-playing drifter on a downward spiral. In 1973, on a remote aboriginal settlement in the Northern Territory, new things impacted him and became the impetus for him to think he may have a future – if he survived. 

True stories provide insight into the tortuous journey of a lonely, insecure child and young man in England; a unique view through the eyes of an immigrant drifter in Australia; and the rollercoaster ride of reintegrating himself into mainstream society.