Smell the Gum Leaves

In "Smell the Gum Leaves", Vince O’Rourke—born in 1940 in the iconic Australian central western town of Longreach, Queensland— presents an evocative and humorous reflection on a Catholic boy’s upbringing in the 1950s. O’Rourke takes a nostalgic trip through Catholic convent schools as a boarder before high schooling at the fledgling Villanova College in Brisbane, Qld. He also shares his experience as a student of Augustan Theology and life in an Augustinian seminary in the USA.O’Rourke’s shares his journey through a 1960s Teachers College and the world of the rural high school teacher at Cunnamulla and Ipswich. "Smell the Gum Leaves" continues on to provide interesting insights into the life of the Queensland public servant at the department of education in the late 1970s. It also describes the newly created catholic school system in Brisbane that O’Rourke would ultimately lead.This memoir of a young country boy’s passage to adulthood will delight lovers of Australian history. It will also reverberate with those who grew up in this era of intolerance and bigotry, of a church triumphant.