Covey’s memoirs published

MEMOIRS of Longwarry North woman Covey Penney have been published in a book about small country towns and pubs.
Mrs Penney, who is well-known in the Bunyip area, has her story about her time in Purlewaugh, a small NSW country town, featured in Outback Towns and Pubs by Bill ‘Swampy’ Marsh.
She grew up in Purlewaugh, which had little more than two churches, a post office and a general store.
Her stories had been published in the Bunyip Hillview Aged Care’s newsletter, a chapter a month.
It all started when Mrs Penney was visiting her husband Gordon at the hostel. Nurse Jenni Onley, who had been reading Mrs Penney’s stories, suggested she collate and publish them in a book.
She also arranged for Mrs Penney to purchase a book about droving written by Bill Marsh which featured similar stories to hers.
After reading the droving book, Mrs Penney was inspired to learn how to use a computer and start to put her memoirs into print.
This was done at the Community House in Bunyip and before long Mrs Penney had quite a collection of stories.
She rang Mr Marsh to see if he was interested in any of her material and after months of discussions over the phone she eventually dictated her story to him.
This led to one of her many stories being published in the book.
Outback Towns and Pubs is available at all ABC Shops and Collins Book Stores for $32.95.