We’re in awe as our eyes are belatedly opened in Australia to trade & cultural connections & shared land management that stretched across the continent & beyond among First Nations. Differences to Europe profound of course but not in ways we used to think. Not insular or isolated or unchanging .

Really interested your family from Holbeach. My ancestors, the Peets, moved there from Horbling their home village after enclosure Horbling Fen. Henry peet was a historian but I don’t recommend Uncle H for a pleasurable read !

The first couple of pages of the book , in a note on describing the fens and fennish, I describe my struggle to deal with this. Which I don’t pretend to have achieved.

eg how hundreds of diverse First Nations develop a shared identity . Fenlander works for the people, and I use that too, but it just becomes so cumbersome when talking of culture, resistance etc as Fenlandish doesn’t work.

Yep. Thanks for that feedback Sophie. I knew and appreciate the primacy of a local identity which as you know is true of all premodern societies and new identities, not least the national state. But I was influenced by the language in settler states when diverse local peoples come under invasion

I get it Sophie but what word do you use for the shared culture and experience of oppression. ?Fennish is not a reference to where folk came from but a shared response to assault on a shared home. Ie about resistance. That was my problem . I try to explain this at start but know was a big call !

Thanks. Just saw this. Appreciated it. James

Such a brave and loving testament. Thankyou x