Tag: australia

What Happened in the Caravan?

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

The caravan was my home for five years.

Lots happened.

I became one of the spa resort community of Hepburn Springs.

A new me emerged.

Maybe that was the real me.

I think so.

I shook off the advertising world I’d left behind in a hurry.

I’d just been declared bankrupt.

It’s all there in my book.

I opened myself up to new people.

To interesting new people.

New experiences.

Maybe it’s what we should all do at some time.

Is this called ‘mid life crisis’?

Wrote articles for the local paper.

Researched the story of the Swiss and Italian miners who came to Australia in the Gold Rush days of the 1850s.

Then I wrote the article.

It’s an amazing true unknown story.

They started a new Italy in the Australian bush.

My article was published in three parts.

Today it’s Chapter 8, ‘Italy in the Aussie Bush’, of my book ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up‘ here.

The owner of the General Store picked it up and started the ‘Swiss-Italian Festa’.

Here’s their interesting website.

There was more. that happened in the caravan over those spectacular five years of rebirth for me.

Maybe a real mind/body/spirit rebirth.

I share everything with you.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith

PS. Get your copy of my true life changing experiences starting in the caravan – here.

How Paranormal Clues Could Spice Up History.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Have I uncovered a true mystery that would change history.?

Could I set the scene for a wow! of a story.

Yes, maybe yes.

It would be a true story.

Had I discovered a ‘prima face’ case for a real mystery that would change history?

The history of Regency England.

The history of the first white settlelers to Australia, then called New South Wales.

The facts surrounding the first settlement of Tasmania, then called Van Diemens’s Land.

Early days in white man’s occupation of New Zealand and the native Maori.

Out of my misfortune I found myself exploring five countries in person and researching.

So I wrote the book.

Took ten years.

It’s my own personal account of how I lifted myself out of the impossible to authoring a 236-page true blockbuster.

With the history side I have rewritten the history of Regency times.

With my own story, full of fun and so entertaining, I’ve written an autobiography.

“You have discerned an amazing story,” says the Writer’s Digest.

Now it’s here for you to enjoy.

And be amazed.

Have I rewritten istory?

Of Regency England.

Of New South Wales.

Of Van Diemen’s Land.

Of New Zealand.

And of the Royal children of 250 years ago.

Legitimate children who may have been sent to Australia on the Third Fleet in 1791.

And lost.

It’s a true mystery you can’t put down.

Buy your own cop here.

Neil the Smith

I’m Rewriting History With This True Blockbuster

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

In a time of crisis, of trauma, of losing everything and living in an old caravan, I found gold.

Not real gold.

Secret messages and a ghost kind of gold that led me to them.

Like Rumpelstiltskin I could weave this information into the gold of a blockbuster of a book.

A revelation.

An exposure.

Had I uncovered a true mystery that would change history.?

Could I set the scene for a wow! of a story.

Yes, maybe yes.

It would be a true story.

Had I discovered a ‘prima face’ case for a real mystery that would change history?

The history of Regency England.

The history of the first white settlelers to Australia, then called New South Wales.

The facts surrounding the first settlement of Tasmania, then called Van Diemens’s Land.

Early days in white man’s occupation of New Zealand and the native Maori.

Out of my misfortune I found myself exploring five countries in person and researching.

So I wrote the book.

Took ten years.

It’s my own personal account of how I lifted myself out of the impossible to authoring a 236-page true blockbuster.

With the history side I have rewritten the history of Regency times.

With my own story, full of fun and so entertaining, I’ve written an autobiography.

“You have discerned an amazing story,” says the Writer’s Digest.

Now it’s here for you to enjoy.

And be amazed.

Have I rewritten istory?

Of Regency England.

Of New South Wales.

Of Van Diemen’s Land.

Of New Zealand.

And of the Royal children of 250 years ago.

Legitimate children who may have been sent to Australia on the Third Fleet in 1791.

And lost.

It’s a true mystery you can’t put down.

Buy your own copy online here.

Love and peace.

Neil Smith

I Think Dr Desailly Knew Too Much About The Royals

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Did Dr Desailly know too much about the Royals back in Regency times.

Was this why he and his wife were banished to the colonies never to return to England?

I’ve learned his secret and I’ve disclosed all in my new paperback book.

What were Dr Desailly and his wife doing in this antipodean outpost of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)?

“They held no official position, nor were they of the free settlers who were beginning to trickle into the colony,” wrote Mabel Hookey in a rare, limited-edition book published over 50 years ago. “They did not swell the ranks of those unfortunates [convicts] who had left their country for their country’s good, nor were they political exiles.

“A vessel under special charter brought them to Van Diemen’s Land, and they always had plenty of money, derived from a mysterious pension, paid regularly and with great secrecy. . It was whispered that Dr Desailly’s English practice had been at the court of George IV, and that his beautiful wife had been a Lady in Waiting to Queen Caroline. “

I know Dr Desailly’s Royal secret and you can read the full story HERE.

Could it possibly have had anything to do with the divorce proceedings between George IV and Queen Caroline?

Did his closely guarded secret have everything to do with children of the Prince of Wales? Maybe legitimate children from his secret marriage to Maria Fitzherbert? If so, where were they? Absolutely nothing is known of them.

Until now.

Were they conveniently dispatched on a Third Fleet ship of all-female convicts that set sail for Australia in 1791?

So where are they?

Maybe I know.

His secret died with him.

Or so it was thought – until now.

That and more is revealed in my book ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’.‘

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith

PS. This is a “fun and entertaining” book, said one enthusiastic reviewer.

What is Dr Desailly’s Royal Secret?

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

I know Dr Desailly’s secret and I’ve disclosed all in my new paperback book.

What were Dr Desailly and his wife doing in this antipodean outpost of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)?

“They held no official position, nor were they of the free settlers who were beginning to trickle into the colony,” wrote Mabel Hookey in a rare, limited edition book published over 50 years ago. “They did not swell the ranks of those unfortunates [convicts] who had left their country for their country’s good, nor were they political exiles.

“A vessel under special charter brought them to Van Diemen’s Land, and they always had plenty of money, derived from a mysterious pension, paid regularly and with great secrecy. . It was whispered that Dr Desailly’s English practice had been at the court of George IV, and that his beautiful wife had been a Lady in Waiting to Queen Caroline.“

I know Dr Desailly’s Royal secret and you can read the full story HERE.

Could it possibly have had anything to do with the divorce proceedings between George IV and Queen Caroline?

Did his closely guarded secret have everything to do with children of the Prince of Wales? Maybe legitimate children from his secret marriage to Maria Fitzherbert? If so, where were they? Absolutely nothing is known of them.

Until now.

Were they conveniently dispatched on a Third Fleet ship of all-female convicts that set sail for Australia in 1791?

So where are they?

Maybe I know.

His secret died with him.

Or so it was thought – until now.

That and more is revealed in my book ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’.‘

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith

Your Mind Knows Who You Are

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever asked your mind who you are?

Do you ever ask it for advice?

A winner of a creative business award was asked what was her secret of success.

“I just trust my beeps,” she said.

Trust her beeps.

Why don’t you try trusting your beeps.

They’re the code to get you out of a rut..

The vibes.

The intuition.

Your mind is energy.

You can tap into that energy, the waves, the vibrations, that you are searching for outside yourself,

Your mind has your interests at heart.

Maybe your mind holds the clues to your Destiny.

Ask it who you are.

With thought.

Because your mind, your Destiny, knows who you were meant to be.

You chose it.

Love and peace.

Namaste.

Neil the Smith
My Author Page

PS. Over a thousand years ago, in medieval Britain, the Smiths were the craftsman, the metal smiths, the blacksmiths, who created the basis of society. Today I’m the creator Smith who, as a wordsmith, creates the society (again). With words, not the sword (read my small book here)..

How Paranormal Clues Uncovered a Royal Cover-Up.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Vital papers had been burned.

Identities were anonymous.

The truth had not been told.

As if they were nobody.

I knew they were Royalty.

Sure, that was 250 years ago.

In Regency times.

In England.

Involving the very early days of British settlement in New South Wales (Australia) and New Zealand).

Who would know?

Certainly not the official line.

Not recorded history.

But I had the paranormal clues.

And they gave me enough, like the smoke, that is evidence of there being a fire.

In the end, after considerable research, I found enough smoke to show there must have been a fire.

The Prince of Wales had his position – and his head – on the line,

All good reason for the cover-up.

I understand.

Now, 25 years later, someone wants the truth to out.

Which is where my story becomes truly paranormal.

I can’t claim proof.

That’s been cleverly destroyed.

I can claim evidence like the smoke that gives away a fire.

Read my 236 page book and judge for yourself.

You’ll enjoy the fun and entertaining read.

Buy the book ‘The Great Royal Cover-Up’ here and enjoy the great read.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith
My Author Page

There’s Been a Cover-Up. A Royal Cover-Up.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

There were clues.

Evidence of a cover-up.

Involving the Prince of Wales.

And a Roman Catholic widow.

They were secretly married.

Was it legal?

Were there children?

Legitimate children.

Then where were they?

I think I know.

It’s not where you think.

Buy my 236-page book ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’ here and enjoy the paranormal adventure across 5 countries.

The Pope said, yes.

The British Parliament said, no.

Who was right?

Everywhere I looked the real evidence was not there.

Vital papers had been burned.

Identities were removed.

The true history had not been told.

I knew they were Royalty.

Yes, that was 250 years ago.

In Regency times.

In England.

But, incredibly, involving the very early days of British settlement in New South Wales (Australia) and New Zealand).

Who would know?

Certainly not the official line.

Not recorded history.

But I had the paranormal clues.

And they gave me enough, like the smoke, that is evidence of there being a fire.

In the end, after considerable research, I found enough smoke to show there must have been a fire.

The Prince of Wales had his position – and his head – on the line,

All good reason for the cover-up.

I understand.

Now, 25 years later, someone wants the truth to out.

Which is where my story becomes truly paranormal.

I can’t claim proof.

That’s been cleverly destroyed.

I can claim evidence like the smoke that gives away a fire.

Read my 236 page book and judge for yourself.

You’ll enjoy the fun and entertaining read.

You’ll ponder the spiritual wisdom as the Truth comes out.

In this sense, it’s a mind/body/spirit story (as well as an historical exposure).

With some romance along the way.

Reader’s Digest said, “You have discerned an amazing story.”

“It’s got everything it needs to be a blockbuster,” they said.

A Royal cover-up which, as you will see, all started with a ghost.

A ghost who appears at Chapter 3 – The Ghost of Granny Fitz’.

Buy the book ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’ here and enjoy the great read.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith
My Author Page

How the Paranormal Uncovered a Royal Cover-Up.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Everywhere I looked the evidence was not there.

Vital papers had been burned.

Identities were anonymous.

The truth had not been told.

As if they were nobody.

I knew they were Royalty.

Sure, that was 250 years ago.

In Regency times.

In England.

But, incredibly, involving the very early days of British settlement in New South Wales (Australia) and New Zealand).

Who would know?

Certainly not the official line.

Not recorded history.

But I had the paranormal clues.

And they gave me enough, like the smoke, that is evidence of there being a fire.

In the end, after considerable research, I found enough smoke to show there must have been a fire.

The Prince of Wales had his position – and his head – on the line,

All good reason for the cover-up.

I understand.

Now, 25 years later, someone wants the truth to out.

Which is where my story becomes truly paranormal.

I can’t claim proof.

That’s been cleverly destroyed.

I can claim evidence like the smoke that gives away a fire.

Read my 236 page book and judge for yourself.

You’ll enjoy the fun and entertaining read.

You’ll ponder the spiritual wisdom as the Truth comes out.

In this sense, it’s a mind/body/spirit story (as well as an historical exposure).

With some romance along the way.

Reader’s Digest said, “You have discerned an amazing story.”

“It’s got everything it needs to be a blockbuster,” they said.

A Royal cover-up which, as you will see, all started with a ghost.

A ghost who appears at Chapter 3 – The Ghost of Granny Fitz’.

Buy the book ‘The Great Royal Cover-Up’ here and enjoy the great read.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith
My Author Page

PS. Illustrated above. an anonymous painting of the ‘Mary Ann’ the only all-female convict to sail from England to New South Wales in 1792 with the Third Fleet.

The Mystery of the ‘Mary Ann’.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

The ‘Mary Ann’ was an all-female convict ship which had sailed to New South Wales (Australia had not been named yet) as part of the Third Fleet in 1791 “under strange circumstances.”

Strange circumstances?

Although officially one of the Third Fleet the ‘Mary Ann’ sailed independently of the rest of the fleet, leaving England forty days before the first of the other ships. The remaining nine vessels were mostly in a bad state of repair, “mostly old, and the Navy Board’s officers were less than vigilant than usual or had no alternative but to accept vessels that were in poor repair and ill-found.” 1

Under the command of her part-owner, Mark Monroe, the 298 ton vessel sailed from England on the 16 February, 1791, arriving in Port Jackson on 9 July. This was the fastest voyage yet made by any ship of the three fleets. Bateson reports a cargo of 150 female convicts but the records of ‘Shipping Arrivals & Departures, Sydney, 1788-1825′2show this to be incorrect. The ‘Mary Ann’ (officially) carried 141 female convicts, six children and one free woman. Six children and one free woman? She was the only ship in the fleet to carry exclusively female, and no male, convicts.

Read the full expose in my true paranormal mind/body/spirit adventure here.

There were a number of indications of a hasty departure. As reported by Collins, the Master of the ship “had not any private papers on board (but what added to the disappointments everyone experienced), he had not brought a single newspaper, and having been but a few weeks from Greenland before sailing for this country, he was destitute of any kind of information.” 3

Even more intriguing was an incident reported by Charles Bateson. After a grueling 143 days at sea “possibly because she called at only one port en route to refresh her prisoners with fresh provisions” a very strange thing happened.

“The Master landed a boat in a bay on the coast about 15 miles to the southward of Botany Bay; but no other observation of any consequence to the colony, than that it was a bay in which a boat may land.” 4

Notice it was the Master who landed the boat according to Bateson.

Puzzled by this I wrote to my genealogist in England asking for information about the ‘Mary Ann’.

“There seem to be no ships musters for the ‘Mary Ann’,” he wrote back. “Looked next the embarkations returns for 1791 but there was no mention of the ‘Mary Ann’ … I looked at the Home Office lists for the ‘Mary Ann’ but these give only the list of convicts, so there is something wrong with your data.”

I found the list of female convicts on the ‘Mary Ann’ but none for the free women and child.

So what have we got?

The Master of the ‘Mary Ann’, a female convict ship carrying six children and one free woman, lands a boat on the coast away from the main settlement about fifteen miles from their port of destination, for no apparent reason, even though there must have been many on board who were ill and in need of fresh food and water having stopped only once on the journey. Her departure does not seem to have been recorded in England. No ships musters could be found. She leaves hastily “under strange circumstances” without the usual papers, sailing over a month in advance of the other ships in the fleet and making the trip in record time. The captain also happens to be the part-owner.

Was something fishy going on here?

But that’s not all.

Bateson offers another interesting observation. “Of the ten sail of transports [the Third Fleet] lately arrived, five, after delivering their cargo, were to proceed on the southern whaling fisheries – the ‘Mary Ann’, ‘Matilda’, ‘William and Mary’, ‘Salamanda’ and ‘Brittania’. Two of the whalers, ‘Matilda’ and ‘Mary Ann’, came in from the sea the day on which the others arrived. The former found a boat in a bay on the coast six miles to the southward of Port Stephens …” 5

Port Stephens is some 200 miles to the north of Botany Bay.

Was there some kind of cover-up going on?

I know what was going on and it was a cover-up to save the Prince of Wales’ Skin.

Or maybe his neck.

I wrote the book to answer this and other big questions.

You can buy ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’ HERE.

Love and Peace.

Neil the Smith

REFERENCES:

1 ‘The Convict Ships’ by Charles Bateson, Naval Historical Society of Australia. Page 131.

2 ‘Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Sydney, 1788-1825’, Roebuck Society, Canberra, 1977.

3 ‘An Account of the English Colony of New South Wales’ by David Collins.

4 Collins.

5Bateson.

Cover-up exposed by a ghost.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Has she returned as a ghost to be heard?

Is she seeking justice for unjust treatment 250 years ago.

They were turbulent times.

She was a Roman Catholic.

And Catholics were being targeted.

For example . . .

By the Gordon riots.

She was secretly married to the Prince of Wales.

Hush. Hush.

The Prince could lose his reputation.

Or even his head.

She was made to feel she didn’t exist.

That the truth didn’t happen.

I know what did happen.

From extensive research.

And a little help from the paranormal.

Ghosts if you like.

Now she wants to be heard.

Evidence has been destroyed.

Or burned.

The truth has been denied.

Officially.

All deemed necessary for the Prince of Wales to survive.

Then.

But now . . .250 years later . . .

It’s time for the truth to be told.

Maybe it’s not too late.

Because what if we knew that legitimate children survived.

And had families.

What if they continued their lives, not in England, but in Australia.

What if their legitimate descendants are alive today.

What if.

I’ve written the ultimate expose of her situation.

I’ve written a 236 page book to expose the mystery of Maria Fitzherbert and what has been covered up.

My book is called ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’

“You have discerned an amazing story”, says Writer’s Digest.

Read the book and decide for yourself whether she is a voice wanting to be heard.

Some 250 years later.

This is a fun and entertaining book.

Full of twists and turns..

Buy your copy now and enjoy a great read.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith.

Is Someone From the Past Wanting to be Heard.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

Is she a ghost from the past?

She was badly treated.

Her secret marriage to the Prince of Wales denied in Parliament.

Her love for the Prince was shunned.

They lived as lovers but where are the children.

Were they smuggled off to Australia on the Third Fleet of convicts from England to the antipodes?

What happened to them after that.

I’ve written a 236 page book to expose the mystery of Maria Fitzherbert and what has been covered up.

My book is called ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’

“You have discerned an amazing story”, says Writer’s Digest.

Read the book and decide for yourself whether she is a voice wanting to be heard.

Some 250 years later.

This is a fun and entertaining book.

Full of twists and turns..

Buy your copy now and enjoy a great read.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith.

I’ve written a true story about a Royal Prince who was smuggled to Australia 250 years ago.

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

There was a cover-up 250 years ago.

A secret marriage.

The Prince of Wales to Maria Fitzherbert.

Was it a legal marriage?

The Pope said yes.

I think a child was born after the marriage.

Or maybe two.

There were questions in Parliament.

The Prince of Wales denied everything.

To save his neck.

Not to mention the fate of his bride.

A Roman Catholic.

Who were unpopular at the time.

There were riots.

And the Crown.

A cover-up for sure.

Then, children.

What to do.

A new penal settlement was being established in Australia.

Called New South Wales then.

Inmates incarcerated in London’s gaols and hulks on the Thames were being sent out often for petty crimes.

They were being sent to the other side of the world.

With no hope of ever returning home.

What if unwanted Royal children could go too.

Smuggled on the First Fleets that sailed from 1787 to 1791.

My book has evidence that children may have been onboard without names.

The all-female convict ship ‘Mary Anne‘ was one.

That’s her on the cover of my book.

Now here’s the thing.

Was a British Royal sent to Australia anonymously.

As a mere child.

And where is he or she.

What became of him or her.

Maybe I know.

Buy the book and read for yourself.

“It’s got everything it needs to be a blockbuster,” said Writer’s Digest.

It’s a “fun and entertaining” book, said another reviewer.

Certainly not dull and boring history.

More autobiographical with unexpected twists and turns.

Buy your copy here.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith.

Was This The Ghost of The Prince’s Mistress? Or Wife?

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

There has been an unsolved mystery, and closely guarded secret, from the time of George the Fourth, Prince of Wales.

Was he married to this Roman Catholic widow?

Legitimately.

And did they have children?

Legitimately.

Heirs to the throne of England.

Would this have changed the course of history?

Two hundred years or so later there have been many attempts to answer those questions.

None very convincingly.

Have I uncovered a somewhat more convincing case.

Re-opened by a ghost.

A ghost whose story I stumbled upon while living, broke, in an old caravan parked by the roadside in a country town in the Australian bush.

Which led me on an amazing adventure across five countries seeking answers to the cover-up.

Here’s my true and shocking paranormal story.

Paranormal, yes.

About a ghost, yes.

Leading to genuine historical evidence to support the yes and yes case.

I’ve written the book called ‘The Great Regency Cover-Up’.

Order your copy now and see for yourself.

Love and peace.

Neil the Smith

PS. Buy the book HERE.

Urban Nomad. Who is the Smith?

~ neilwjsmith ~ Leave a comment

I am the Smith.

I am the author.

Why ‘the Smith’?

The smiths were the crafters, the metal smiths, the blacksmiths, the makers of Medieval Britain a thousand years ago.

I am the wordsmith.

I’ve written and self-published 8 autobiographical books.

Click or tap the image above to see.

This smith has lived everywhere.

Over 50 dwellings have been my home.

An ancient aboriginal corroboree ground in a wilderness area known as Fairy Hills where the creek met the river was my first memory of life.

And only a few kilometres from the Melbourne CBD.

I’ve just learned they’ve been digging up ancient aboriginal artifacts that suggest this.

I’ve lived with psychics and healers.

And sat with mediums or channels.

I’ve lived with a Reiki Master in New York.

With a Roman Catholic nurse in the north of Italy.

With a Buddhist in the UK.

My lawyer was an Atheist.

I didn’t live with him.

I ran my own freelance copywriting business. in the ’70s

In 1972 I won an award for the best television campaign of the year for a brand of meat pies and donuts.

I was a New Age hippie.

We knew about climate change 50 years ago.

A group of us started a commune on 40 acres north of Melbourne to become self-sufficient and live off the grid.

A year later we’d failed.

I helped launch Animal Liberation here.

Our patron was Peter Singer, who was then Professor of Bioethics at Harvard., and wrote the book ‘Animal Liberation’.

45 years later it’s still active today.

I was the first member of the Permaculture Association.

Which, started by two Tasmanian academics in the late ’70s, today is changing the world

Now there are over one million people certified in Permaculture in over 140 countries with more than 4,000 projects on the ground.

I went bankrupt.

An article I researched and wrote 35 years ago – about the Swiss and Italian gold miners who came to Australia in the 1850s – triggered the launch of a Swiss-Italian Festa which is still running every year today in a local spa resort town.

Their story is in my book here.

I ran a social group called ‘The Springs Whole Health Group’.

We never ran out of guest speakers on healing topics, from ley lines to chemical sensitivity, who I’d enjoy interviewing every month before our next meeting.

Then I would write an article for the local paper which they always published on page 3 or 5.

This while living frugally in an old caravan parked at the end of a street in the spa resort town.

Over 5 years I became known as the man in the van.

I studied many spiritual philosophies.

I studied Religious Experience as an off campus mature age student at Uni –

The Christian Mystics

The Hindu Bhagavad-Gita.

Australian Aboriginal Dreaning.

I practiced Yoga for 50 years from wherever I called home.

Briefly I joined the Theosophical Society in Melbourne, with headquarters in Adyar, India, with the motto ‘There is no religion higher than Truth’.

I met and befriended the Librarian of the Melbourne branch, a Wise Woman, who taught me how and where and why to search for Truth.

What is Truth?

For a time I was married and today have the pleasure of a beautiful family of 2 lovely daughters, 3 adorable granddaughters and 2 mischievous great grandsons.

I’m truly blessed

Visit my 8 fun and entertaining autobiographical books on my Author Page here.

You can find more of my adventures in my autobiographical books.

Namaste.

Neil the Smith (author)

PS. I recommend – ‘Our Thoughts Can Change The World’ (104 pages) and The Great Regency Cover-Up’ (236 pages). Buy both now and pay less P&P.