Roden Cutler, VC: The Biography by Colleen McCullough
Heroes represent the finest in human nature. Their value to all of us is incalculable.
Roden Cutler's list of honours is long and impressive, but is his sole decoration, the Victoria Cross, that marks him as a hero. Over 800, 000 men an women served in Australian armed forces during the Second World War, but only twenty were awarded the V. C.
Colleen McCullough shows us the life and times of the young soldier with the dashing good looks, the laconic humour and dislike of pretension who came back from the war determined to continue to support his mother, but, having lost a leg, with no idea how to do so. Yet by the age of 29 he was the Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand. His diplomatic career was to include stints to Ceylon, Egypt during the Suez crisis of 1956, Pakistan and New York. In 1966 he was appointed governor of New South Wales; during his 15 years in that office he shared with Captain Arthur Phillip and Lachlan Macquarie, he earned his own niche among them as 'the people's governor'. Much loved, he is still remembered as a man equally at home in the company of royalty or trade unionists.
His story is embedded in Australian history, and part of it. But it is also the story of a man who pulled himself up by his bootstraps to serve his country with courage and dignity in the face of all obstacles. In an age accustomed to public idols with feet of clay, Roden Cutler is the exception: a man whose integrity is as formidable as his humility is astonishing.
Hardback | 418 pages
27 Nov 1998
Random House Australia
Milsons Point, Australia
Weight: 766g
Language: English
0091839335
9780091839338
Condition: Good
A vintage book that has been read but is in good condition. No obvious damage to the cover. The dust jacket is included and in good condition (minor scuff marks, and a small [about 1cm] tear on the top-left corner of the back cover). All pages are undamaged with no creasing or tearing, no pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages. Apart from the dust jacket, which is still in good condition, the book is in very good condition.