About the author

author

Russell Parker dreamed of travelling to the Pacific islands from about the age of eleven and as a youngster read all he could on the area. He grew up in Manilla, in northern NSW, and later joined the Commonwealth Bank at the age of 16. In 1968 Russell was trans ferred to the bank’s Honiara branch.

Russell worked in Honiara for 14 months and was transferred to Wewak in northern New Guinea. In 1990 Russell returned to the Solomons with his wife and son to show them where be lived and worked in the Solomons.

When he met Nathan Kera for the first time and discovered that he had been keeping diaries most his life Russell immediately recognised that there was a book half-written. This was the start of a four-year effort through mail and another short visit in 1991 which resulted in the eventual publication of Maekera.