G'day again all,

Bill Cameron: Schnapper is a standard local(Eastern Australia)name and spelling for the fishes chrysophrys auratus & c. guttulatus (although they are also called snapper) and that is the spelling Harry used in his book.

There is a strong undercurrent of German spellings and words in Sydney slang ... up to August 1914, when this was suppressed. Some hang on and others are now historical.

Lamarca: I believe a Fairmile was a small, fast Royal Navy (and Royal Australian Navy)boat - mainly a motor torpedo boat. Many war-surplus items were put to new an interesting uses. Down in Tasmania, when I was working on the Hydro schemes, I met a Pom who had used one for smuggling from France to England for several years post-war. He put his small boat skills to work again in Tasmania's disastrous floods of ~1960 to save people ... and was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire)!

Regards,

Bob Bolton