A companion page to the NHS Publication “On The Rocks” by Victor Keating (1887-1979).

This remarkable historical novel contains many fascinating characters and events.

The basis of many of these people and events are unknown to anyone but the author. However, there is much in the book that is identifiable. Some easily, but more that requires extensive detective work. Rather than add footnotes to the book we have created this companion webpage that endeavours to identify some of the people and events you have enjoyed reading about.

This companion webpage is a work in progress and any ideas or new facts will be welcomed.

Overall

First published in 1969, the book is set on the Southern Peninsula principally between about 1850 and 1900. We travel through time with the central characters while their environment changes inexorably around them. The ‘march of time’ and the ‘development’ of the Southern Peninsula is a central theme of the book and is certainly one that resonates to this day. Some decades of its original publication.

Perhaps the place to begin is the central character ‘Buff’. We have no knowledge of a non-fictional basis for ‘Buff’. He may be an amalgam of several characters known to the Author, or simply a literary device.

As with any of the discussion that follows, if you have some evidence that adds to the discussion, please contact us via the ‘contact form’ below.

Here we will take you through the book as written and study the characters, places and events as they are revealed to us. To this end, and to facilitate a workable page size, we will break the book into its chapters 1 – 13.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

If you have something to add, please contact us with the form below: