Sundowner of the Skies
Second edition published in August 2021
Sundowner of the Skies is available in book stores in Australia and NZ. It can also be purchased here: Books for sale
I began writing about my father’s flying adventures in 2005. At first, I thought I had enough material for a single feature article which was published in the Australian Financial Review in 2005. There was a huge response to this article, with readers wanting to know more about this unsung hero. A few begged me to write a full-length book. And so I did. Along the way I wrote many other articles about my father’s extraordinary flying achievements - see Articles
It was a long journey, and I gave up for some years and went back to university where I ended up doing a PhD in Journalism. It didn’t help much, except my thesis on journalists’ use of blogs led me into the world of Twitter, where I came to know Trent Dalton. His wonderful endorsement adorns the front and back covers of Sundowner. How lucky is that!
Sundowner of the Skies was released in June 2019. It has flown all over the world to the far northern tip of Scotland down to the far south of the South Island of New Zealand, and received some wonderful publicity and reviews. Oscar is no longer the Forgotten Aviator! I hoped my book would appeal to a wide range of readers of all ages, not just those interested in aviation. And it has. Here is the article I wrote for The Guardian about the success of my book. The most wonderful thing has been the feedback from readers or from people who have heard me being interviewed. I’ve even been contacted by people from my past. ‘Do you remember me? I was with you during the B.Ed. years at Waikato University and always wondered what had happened to you!’
In August 2021, a second edition was published. This has 77 extra pages with more photos and also extracts from Dad’s logbooks. It also has an Afterword - things that have happened since my book was first released in July 2019, such as the extraordinary mural painted by the acclaimed Māori artist Graham Hoete (Mr G), now on display at Tauranga Airport. (See clip in BOP article below.) It also mentions the shocking betrayal of my late sister, who piggybacked my book and wrote her own version. Thankfully it was withdrawn from sale and copies removed from libraries due to extensive plagiarism. I’ve written about this saga in my new book My Father’s Suitcase, as well as here Why my sister’s book is a stab in the back (Newsroom)and Magpies and Memory (Meanjin).
I was thrilled when Sundowner was short-listed for the NSW Premier’s History Award 2020
Judges’ comments:
Oscar Garden was a pioneering pilot who embodied the daredevil spirit of the golden age of aviation when he successfully flew from London to Sydney in 1930 with only 39 hours of previous flying experience. This largely forgotten feat forms the centrepiece of Mary Garden’s powerful biography, which situates Oscar’s public exploits in his unhappy private life, and her own troubled memories of a distant father.
Beautifully written, Sundowner of the Skies is no hagiography. Garden eloquently evokes her father’s brief moment of barnstorming celebrity but frames it between his troubled childhood in Scotland and her own troubled childhood during Oscar’s long and resentful retirement in New Zealand. This cathartic family history is a profound exploration of inter-generational trauma and its effects on individuals, families and their shared memories.
Some reviews and articles.
Who was pioneering aviator Oscar Garden? Flypast, 22 November 2022.
Susan Tarr, Review, 31 March 2021.
Garth Cameron, Review: ‘Sundowner of the Skies: the story of Oscar Garden, the forgotten aviator and Oscar Garden: a tale of one man’s love of flying’, Aviation News, March 2021, p. 16.
Meet the Author, In Their Own Write, 19 February 2021.
Interview New Zealand Booklovers, February 2021.
Fiona Mackenzie, ‘Sutherland Caithness Heroes’, Strathnaver Museum, June 2020.
Stuart McKay, Review, The Moth, No 189, 2020, pp.189-90.
Caroline McMorran, ‘Oz author's gift to Strathnaver Museum’, Northern Times, 9 June 2020.
Linda Murray, ‘Mary Garden’s Sundowner of the Skies’, 3 June 2020.
Chris Clifford, Review, Flypast, 2020.
History, Memoir and Biography Roundup, 25 March 2020.
My article: ‘Sundowner of the Skies’, Flypast, March 2020, pp.90-95.
Rama Gaind, Review, PSNews 24 February 2020.
Cass Moriarty, Sundowner of the Skies, What Am I reading?, 11 February 2020
Classic Wings, Review, Issue 113, Vol. 4, 2020, pg. 22.
Wendy Wilson, Review, AeroAustralia, Iss. 65, January/March 2020, pg. 71.
Martin Playne, Ancestor, Quarterly Journal of the Genealogical Society of Victoria Inc., Vol. 35, Iss. 1, 2020, pg. 27.
‘Oscar Garden: a Scottish-born Aviator’, The Scottish Banner, Vol. 43, No 5, Nov. 2019. pp. 30-31.
Ray Vuillermin, ‘Book Review: Sundowner of the Skies’, Rag & Tube, September 2019, p. 30.
‘My book is not a bestseller but I still think it is a success’, The Guardian, 26 September 2019.
Jim Sullivan, Otago Daily Times, ‘A fine biography recalling adulation and troubles in an era of open cockpits’, 21 September 2019, p. 84. (it is below in picture gallery)
Leigh Robshaw, ‘Pioneering aviator finally remembered’, My Weekly Preview, 12 September 2019.
Jean McCraw, ‘Historic Flight of Sutherland-born aviator, Northern Times, 7 September 2019.
Jean Bell, ‘Mr G mural unveils portrait honouring aviation hero Oscar Garden’, BOP Times, 12 August 2019.
Ross Fitzgerald, ‘A Journey of Discovery’, The Weekend Australian, August 24-25, 2019, p 19.
Kate Wells, ‘Tauranga‘s ‘forgotten aviator’ honoured with mural’, The Sun, 12 August 2019.
Rosalie Crawford, Weekend Sun (Tauranga), 2 August 2019.
Mary Barber, Your Time Magazine, August 2019, pg. 14.
Jean Bell, ‘Mr G's latest portrait honouring aviation legend Oscar Garden takes flight’, Bay of Plenty Times, 23 July, 2019.
‘Oscar Garden, New Zealand’s forgotten aviator’, New Zealand Herald, 21 July 2019.
Janet Mawdesley, Blue Wolf Reviews, 14 July 2019.
Ray Vuillermin, Review, Australian Sport Pilot, July 2019, pg. 60.
Grantlee Kieza, ‘Dream Takes Flight’, QWeekend, Courier-Mail, 6-7 July 2019, pg. 25.
Leigh Robshaw, ‘Remembering Oscar: Maleny writer Mary Garden remembers her pioneering father’, Salt, June 2019.
Garry Shilson-Josling, Australian Aviation, 27 June 2019.Caroline McMorran, ‘Gift inspires Strathnaver museum to ask members of the public to celebrate their local heroes by making plaque tributes, Northern Times, 23rd June 2019.
Celebration of a book and an author, Glasshouse Country & Maleny News, 19 June 2019, pp. 2; 28.
Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 June 2019, pg. 22.
Aziz, FMagazine: Celebrating Female Success, 13 June 2019.
Jacqui Hensel, ‘Mary’s Story Cycle’, Hinterland Times, June 2019, pg. 11.
Ashley Carter, ‘Soulful story of the ‘forgotten aviator’, Sunshine Coast Daily, 8 June 2019, pg. 30.
Book launch for Sundowner of the Skies, Glasshouse Country & Maleny News, 5 June 2019.
‘Crazy Brave’, Weekend Australian Magazine, 1-2 June, 2019, pp. 28-30 (edited extract from book)
‘In profile: Mary Garden’, Glasshouse Country & Maleny News, 22 May 2019, pg. 8.
IN-CONVERSATION
25 November 2020: Talk to U3A, Caloundra.
23 October 2020: High Country Writers Festival, Glen Innes. In conversation with Mike Burge, on how to get published; In conversation with Mary Moody and Amanda Woods on writing memoir.
14 October 2020: Talk to U3A, Nambour
7 October 2020: Annie’s Books at Peregian Beach: interviewed by Mary-Lou Stephens.
6 August 2020: Talk to U3A, Mudjimba
28 February 2020: Noosaville Library with Mary-Lou Stephens and Leigh Robshaw
20 February 2020: Avid Reader In conversation with Cass Moriarty
18 February 2020: Cooroy Library: In conversation with Mary-Lou Stephens.
4 February 2020: U3A Talk at Maleny
25 June 2019: Outspoken Maleny Interview with Steven Lang
TV INTERVIEWS 21 August 2019: Duncan Garner, AM Show (TV), Auckland
RADIO INTERVIEWS
23 January 2020 ABC Conversations with Sarah Kanowski (Sundowner of the Skies and my father is mentioned in this, although the main focus was on my Indian story)
8 August 2019: Brian Kelly at Coast FM Tauranga
10 July 2019: Marilyn Jones, 92.7 Bay and Basin FM, pre-recorded.
1st July 2019: Radio Sydney Breakfast, Josh Sveps, Catch me at 3:07 on this clip
27 June 2019: 4CA 846 AM, Laurie Atlas, Daily Agenda, The Greatest Aviation Story You’ve Never Heard
30 June 2019: RNZ National, Jim Mora, Oscar Garden: The NZ aviation legend you've never heard of.
19 June 2019: 2ST Dave Stretton, pre-recorded
11 June 2019: ABC Tropical North, Meechan Philpott, pre-recorded
5 June 2019: ABC Sunshine Coast, Annie Gaffney, 9:50 am.
28 May 2019: ABC Goldfields-Esperance Poppy Penny 12:50 pm.
Endorsements for Sundowner of the Skies:
What a marvellous book. Author Mary Garden writes beautifully and honestly of her father, Oscar Garden, a hero from the golden age of aviation when intrepid men in tiny biplanes crossed the globe in flights that startled the world. In a deeply personal study of a gloriously flawed adventurer, secrets are laid bare and raw emotions are set aflame. This is an important book about a fascinating character and an extraordinary time in aviation history. Grantlee Kieza
Oscar Garden was not just a great early flyer but a strange and lonely and self-defeating man. His daughter, Mary Garden, allows him his achievements but is clear-eyed about his failings: his almost pathological self-centredness, his hardness and cruelty as a father. Sundowner of the Skies is an important piece of aviation history and a courageous personal story, vividly told. Maurice Gee
The story of Oscar Garden’s extraordinary career in aviation is a remarkable and historically significant one. The time for his name to join those of his illustrious pioneering contemporaries – including Charles Kingsford Smith, Bert Hinkler, Amy Johnson and Jean Batten – is long overdue. Nick Stroud
With just 39 hours of flight experience, Oscar’s achievement was extraordinary. This is a little-known story that needs to be told! Dick Smith
