Rabbits and Other Immigrants – The Alan Parsons Story

In the 1850s, the long arm of destiny stretched across the oceans and plucked young George Parsons and some rabbits from a village in England and brought them to a grazier’s property in south eastern Australia.

The boy, who was ill-treated, made good his escape, as did the rabbits. Both went forth and multiplied. Both cleared the land, one at the bidding of the government, the other because it could. Both changed this ancient land forever. This story follows George Parsons’ son and his brood as they and the rabbits independently made their way from east to west Australia. Great-grandson, Alan Parsons, the central figure of this book, was born in the WA Wheatbelt on the eve of the Great Depression. By then the rabbits had become a source of food and cash for rural survival. So began Alan’s life of uncharted opportunities in the Golden West.

Julie Lenora Parsons is an artist and designer who has been a closet writer all her life. She is no stranger to imaginings, but it is her work in design for performance where she learnt to apply her investigative principles to the realisation of theatre productions.

Curiosity led to an interest in the history of performance and finally to the completion of a Masters thesis on the Harlequin at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Not content with hearsay, Julie has researched and debunked apparently misleading family stories. Along the way she found two family historians who were able to assist her in realising the early part of this book. After that she worked solely with her father to bring to life his fascinating and colourful stories.