My family spent 160 days at sea to start a new life ... (African history memoir)

The Catherine, in which gardener George and Mary Ann Seymour and six of their children sailed from England to Durban, South Africa in 1862.

My mother Jennifer passed away, nearly two years ago to the day. I dealt with the grief by immersing myself in exploring our family's history, and it turned into a voyage of discovery far wilder than I ever imagined.

Because, you see, our family on Dad's side arrived as Settlers in South Africa in 1820. And on Mum's side they arrived in 1862. Wild place, wild times. But they persevered, forging a new life for themselves, and eventually being part of the Pioneer Column into Rhodesia in 1890. A rare distinction having a family which were first pioneers in TWO countries. Which makes me sixth-generation Southern African (and explains my funny 'where is he from?' accent).

But let's rewind: imagine Henry Lloyd. You're an orange merchant in South London's Bridge Foot markets, when you get the idea that a better life might be there for your family -- he and wife Alicia had four kids under the age of eight -- 12,000km away at the bottom of Africa. They boarded the La Belle Alliance and spent 160 days aboard in cramped conditions until reaching Algoa Bay, on the south-east coast of South Africa. Then it was a two-week ride on an ox cart before they were dumped in the middle of dry farmland, and left sitting on their suitcases to start their new life. I still can't fathom what that might feel like.

For George Seymour, a head gardener at a massive estate in Linolnshire, and Mary Ann, it was a similar situation. They had six children still to care for (two were already adult) when they boarded the Catherine. Similarly long voyage, with passengers -- including the doctor's own wife and kids -- passing away from diseases en route and being tipped overboard. They finally arrived in Durban Harbour and had to start entirely from scratch. Hardy people.

What happened next was a thrilling discovery for me. Leading to amazing stories of gold and diamond prospectors alongside Cecil Rhodes, one ancestor who introduced commercial sugar farming to mainland Africa, war heroes in several wars and a few famous battles, a double-agent arrested and his mills blown up by both sides as a traitor, international and national sports figures in sports like rugby (my uncle played against the All Blacks and the British Lions), swimming, and water polo. And so it goes on.

So I'm very excited that my new non-fiction memoir book will be out on June 9 which tells all these stories and more (including one of my personal memories involving a fishing trip and being surrounded by 29 hippos ... obviously I lived to tell the tale.)

Taking The Malay Experiment to Singapore and Malaysia

Last November it was quite daunting to take the story of the Malay Regiment back to where it all started. In KL I had the honour of being invited to the home of Brig-Gen Dato Mohamed Arshad Raji (ret'd) who himself had served in the Malay Regiment, and generously penned a foreword for my book. We enjoyed a hearty Malay meal (sedap!) and much fascinating conversation about his military experiences, as well as those of my buddy Lt-Col Hardy Dhaliwal who'd introduced me to the Brig-Gen in the first place.

Then it was down to Singapore for some book signings and talks at the Changi Chapel & Museum, and Reflections at Bukit Chandu, plus a few bookstores. Thanks to Raja and his team for arranging these brilliant sessions, and Amnah at APD (my book distributors in South-east Asia) for shepherding me to the right places at the right time (yes, herding cats might be easier!)

I especially enjoyed the Bukit Chandu session, because that was the very place of the regiment's desperate last stand fighting in February 1942. You could almost hear the walls dying to interrupt me with their versions or memories of the stories I was telling.

And on the side of that, always great to reconnect with old friends in Singapore such as Peter B Williams, Tan DX (my excellent ally in Alexandra Hospital for so long), ex-colleagues Dali and Ramlah, and the amazing Zen who was my personal assistant in the late 90s (refer earlier comment re herding cats!).

And now for something completely different ...

Artist and lead guitarist Reg Mombassa being typically laconic, probably talking about the estimated 25,000 joints he's smoked in his lifetime. The MC of the panel was Hoodoo Gurus' lead singer Dave Faulkner.

From the darkness and seriousness of military history, it was a complete change of mode when I was invited to the global premiere of the docu-movie 'LIVE IT UP: The Mental as Anything Story' (yes, the movie has the same strap line as my official of the band). A buzz to be in the front rows alongside some of Australia's biggest music names such as Midnight Oil, The Wiggles, The Cockroaches, Ganggajang, etc. Director Matt Walker and I had many many behind-the-scenes chats over the years as I wrote the book and he filmed the documentary, so it was brilliant to see his final product. Superbly digestible doco done in the vibrant visual style the band created for its posters, album covers and music videos. Totally fun! And with the band now on its 50th Anniversary tour, my audiobooks of 'Started Out Just Drinking Beer' have totally blow up, so that's a nice bonus. I believe the book is now sold-out so might be hard to find if you haven't got it already.

'Under a Bamboo Sky'

A new documentary of the POW experience in Singapore, Thailand, and Japan by Serge Ou came out, telling the stories of the POWs using their actual archival voice recordings, and tons of mainly Japanese-filmed footage from Singapore and Thailand I'd never seen before, and clever AI-tweaked photos of the soldiers using their enlistment photos. I was honoured to be asked to do introductions and Q'nA at two of the screenings (one in Orange and the other in Port Macquarie) and meet some of the relatives of the POWs in the film. A higligthw as meeting Ross Gilbert. I'd met Ross's father Cyril in Changi about 20 years ago, and wrote a story about Pte Cyril Gilbert's time on the Death Railway for a local newspaper. As it happened, Ross picked up that paper to suddenly be faced with a photo of his father grinning back at him from out of the blue. I was happy to pass a signed copy of 'The Missing Years' onto Ross and others so they could learn more about their relatives' experiences as POWs. The doco is now on Netflix if you want to watch it.

And some other stuff ...

It hasn't all been work. Mam and I moved to the east coast of Australia in the last few weeks, and are enjoying getting settled in here. Enjoying the warmth, that's for sure, and she delights in seeing dolphins gracefully swimming in the channel when we go for morning walks.

We've also had two months in Thailand spending time with her family and catching up with friends. We also bought a house and put our stamp on it (which to me means hanging my many, many paintings on the wall till it looked more like The Louvre than a residence, and getting my bookshelves sorted). We plan to spend a lot more time there in the future. Which sort of brings us full circle in this newsletter ... I counted it up the other day: I've made 10 international moves in my life. So perhaps the adventurous spirit is embedded in my DNA, inherited from Henry and Alicia and George and Mary Anne. But somehow my life seems a lot tamer than theirs by a long way.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this update. If you more regular updates, follow me on Insta @RealStuLloyd. Thanks and go well.

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