Moriarty’s Flight of Fancy

Moriarty’s Flight of Fancy is a story of migration to a new life in Australia. The challenging adventure is full of enterprise, risk, struggle, and plain hard work, laced with a spirit of ‘get on with it’. Central to the story is the growth of a personal and family heritage and the demands it placed on the Moriarty family. When Moriarty and his wife, B., escaped from their mundane existence in the Emerald Isle, they struggled until they met the MacDonalds and built a lifelong partnership with them. The sheep property—the Homestead—went through a kaleidoscope of good times, severe drought, fire, and threats from development. Moriarty’s children were different in character and aspiration. Patrick married a part-aboriginal person. Together they made a big impact on the Flying Doctor Service. Siobhan was a changeable personality who had mixed fortune, eventually finding happiness only for it to be cut short by tragedy. The wild one, Kaitlyn, slid down a skid row after a meteoric success. With help from a special friend, she was able to reinvent herself. All the while, Moriarty grew young through a curious dialogue with experience.