David Malouf

Yeah, I think all of our existences are vanishingly improbable, you know, in terms of, you know, this, whatever.

But yours even more so.

I think that they were able to stay loyal to each other for 15, 16 years.

I think that very largely what made them not push the issue was a kind of dutifulness that they both had.

They were both kind of utterly...

family-oriented and had strong filial obligations.

So, you know, duty really meant something in those days.

We were just talking about your parents' long courtship then.

You've seen some of the correspondence that they had in those brief times when they were separated.

What's the language like?

What's your dad's language like when he's talking, writing letters to your mum?

My father left school probably when he was 12, went to be a boy with Cobben Co.

up in Danango.

And the letters are very, very formally written.

I mean, they're really eloquent in a kind of old-fashioned style writing.

which was amazing for me when I saw them.

He says things like, I must say, dear me.

Yes, yeah.

And, you know, what that partly tells you about is the kind of primary school education kids in his day had, which was still, I must say, the kind of primary education I had in my day too, where...

A lot of kids in Queensland left school at 13, at the end of year seven, the vast majority of them.