GROWING up in Geelong in the 1950s, Ian Trevaskis remembers the huge hype around the Melbourne Olympic Games.
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The now Tallangatta-based author said the kids on his street would get together every afternoon to re-enact parts of the 1956 Games.
"I can remember in our neighbourhood in Belmont in Geelong, someone had made an Olympic torch out of a jam tin," he said.
"Every night we'd do a relay around the block.
"We'd do that until our parents were out the front yelling for us all to come in!"
Trevaskis said that memory was the genesis for his new novel for children aged 12-plus, Of Boys and Boats.
He said he had long written down one memory a day on a card, from which to draw inspiration for creative projects.
"I pinch a lot of stuff from my childhood," Trevaskis said.
"There was a laneway for the night cart, where we'd play and I remember there was a tree from which we could spy on the whole neighbourhood.
"There was a recluse and World War I survivor, who forms the backstory for the book."
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Trevaskis worked on the first draft of his novel thanks to a May Gibbs Creative Time Residential Fellowship in Adelaide during 2014.
He researched the Olympic Games at the State Library in Melbourne.
"I spent a day at the State Library going through The Age newspaper reports from late November 1956," he said.
Of Boys and Boats is a heart-warming story that explores the deepening relationships that develop between Jack Spiller and his cohort, and an embittered old man; while also dealing with themes of bullying, loss and grief, ethnic intolerance and personal aspirations.
A fast-paced, dramatic and funny story, it will take the reader back to a time of youthful innocence and hope, tempered by heartache and loss.
Published by Ford Street Publishing, Of Boys and Boats is available from Dymocks Albury or via email: iantre@hotmail.com.
A keen cyclist, Trevaskis will also ride 600 kilometres throughout October in the fight against children's cancer.
Having already participated over six years, Trevaskis has raised more than $8000 for the cause.
"Thankfully, my four children grew up strong and healthy, unlike some of these little people who have spent much of their short lives in hospital," he said.
Funds go to the Children's Medical Research Institute to develop treatments and find cures for childhood cancers.
To donate visit: greatcyclechallenge.com.au/Riders/IanTrevaskis/
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