Robin began his creative life at Caulfield Institute of Art (now Monash ). He became a commercial artist.
He joined the advertising business and worked for international advertising agencies and marketing companies
both in Australia, the U.K. and Canada.
He founded a design company for 3 years.
In 1980 he opened an advertising company. First as Creative Director and then as Managing Director,
he served for 11 years building the company in Melbourne and Sydney.
In 1991, Robin resigned from the advertising career to write full-time.
He began as a screenwriter with The Film House working on soaps and movie scripts.
Two years later he finished his first novel as a manuscript.
Two novels later, his third manuscript was his first novel published as Goat on a hill.
He worked as a marketing and business writer to make ends meet.
Three more manuscripts later in 2008, his second novel, Mcity was published.
Mcity was awarded a commendation in the Fellowship of Australian writers (FAW) in 2009.
His writing credits include: short-listed in the 1996 Melbourne Fringe Festival fiction prize,
short listed 1999: My Brother Jack fiction prize.
VDL Publications published his first novel, Goat on a Hill in 1998.
His second novel MCity was published in 2009 by Be Published Pty, Ltd.
Robin Has worked as an Art Director and a graphic designer. He is also a painter.
Robin lectured writing and business strategy for the Bachelor of Communication to the first year students at RMIT.
He freelances as a writer. He also paints.
CURRENT
Freelance business writing, fiction writing and painting.
HONORARY POSITIONS HELD
Director of The Film Centre Council of Victoria. (7 years)
Director, Life be in It. (5 years)
Director, Victorian Tapestry Workshop. (5 years)
Born in Melbourne and educated in commercial art at Monash University (Caulfield campus).
Robin has three adult daughters and lives in Melbourne with his first wife.
© 1998 All rights reserved.
Published 1998,VDL Publications,
Hobart Tasmania.
SYNOPSIS
Melbourne, Australia, 1948. Race Mackay , a former Air Force officer has returned from the War to settle
with his difficult wife Nell and their three children The Baz, Joy and eight-year old Gil. Gil's short-tempered Ma who,
in spite of Race's shortcomings and bad advice from her interfering sisters, has kept the family solvent.
Squeezed into their Caulfield house with Grandma and Grandpa, the Mackays attempt a separation to the puzzlement of Gil.
Ma and Race struggle on as Nell’s terrible sisters apply further pressure. Gil’s boyhood is turning into a minefield of conflict.
Gil is now a keen, exploitive observer of his family’s troubles as he manoeuvres around the jealousy of his aunts with Ma.
The conflict overshadows Races painful, alcoholic recovery from the War. Neglected, the courtly Race retreats into a
hopeful fantasy of royal birthright. Gil is puzzled about Race and he takes his lessons of manhood from his beloved Grandpa.
Race takes up work with the local SP bookmaker to tide himself over between jobs. Ma is getting difficult and Gil struggles to shift his
troubles over to his brother and sister. As Gil grows the community is infused with migrants and the predictable suburb of
Caulfield North is changing.
The neighbourhood is awash with children as Gil and his brother join the scouts. The discipline from the ex-military men
restrains Gil’s behaviour for a time. Meanwhile Gil’s aunt Pearl begins a long acrimonious separation from her husband Bill.
Against Race’s wishes Nell is goaded into the conflict by the Terrible sisters. The Marriage is again under pressure as
Pearl’s divorce brings jealousies into the open. Gil is now thirteen, and an appetite for pranks highlights his growing confidence.
Suddenly Grandpa dies. Gil is distraught and the family are thrown into a pit of grief. Through the mourning, Gil and Race
begin to talk. They are both changing: Race’s drinking has slowed and he is becoming more responsible.
Gil’s appetitive for trouble is slowing and he begins to understand the silent, courtly Race. Gil is rising from his boyhood.
A novel by Robin Stewart
© Robin Stewart. All right reserved. 2003
Published September 2008
SYNOPSIS
On the outskirts of a village in the empty bush, a young fertile man from the River Community is on patrol when he is
captured by Vitro soldiers. Abducted for his seed, Sean is taken south to M-city. The villagers are in shock.
Fertile males are in short supply and the raiding Vitro cannot be allowed to get away with the outrage.
Sean’s father, the Dean, rallies his villagers to send a military team to rescue his son. As only women may enter the
city in the south, the Dean selects Sean ‘s betrothed—Bindy.
Bindy respects Sean, but their arranged marriage approaches; and she is secretly in love with Matthew. Rescuing Sean gives her the
opportunity to get out of her arranged marriage. She demands to be freed of her agreement to marry the boy she loves.
The Dean insists to know the identity of the boy. Bindy refuses. Angrily, the Dean gives in, but swears her to
secrecy about their arrangement.
Bindy is prepared for the journey by the mysterious Victor and his companions, Lucas and Christo. Matthew waits.
Bindy secretly farewells him and after a village blessing in the church, she sets off through the empty bush.
Over the river for the first time, she is uneasy about the men who guard her. But when a psychotic miner threatens her life,
Victor’s steely leadership saves her and cements their friendship.
On the Journey over the mountains and deserted towns of a resurgent bush, Bindy discovers a continent she never knew.
The once sovereign state of Australia has disappeared in an international agreement. Now under supervision,
the population crowds into two giant cities.
The further south the party travels, the more uneasy Bindy becomes. The aloof Victor is forced to rescue Bindy from a
rape attempt by Lucas. Christo is ordered to take Lucas back to the Village. Travelling alone now, Bindy and Victor meet Boxman,
Victor’s puckish Chinese friend. In a hilarious evening, Bindy learns of Victor and Boxman’s nefarious past.
She and Victor have become close friends.
Leaving Boxman they cross the last mountain range before M-city. Victor has fallen in love with Bindy. Unaware of this change,
Bindy leaves him in the hills and enters M-city alone. Victor waits contemplating his secret love.
Overwhelmed by the wonder of the metropolis, Bindy is inducted into beautiful MotherCity. Women rule, fertility is low
and their need for reproduction is paramount. She is selected by her bureaucratic sponsor Bette Caulfield,
for fast tracking into the elite of MotherCity society.
Bindy is entranced by opportunity, but discovers that life is rigidly proscribed. Any sidestepping of the social contract
is treated with great ruthlessness. The slapping laws astound her. The IVF reproduction centre wakes her to the shadow of
indifference to the wider community that pervades city rule. In the hospital she discovers Sean drained of his seed but alive.
With the help of dissidents, they make their escape into the surrounding hills. The meet with Victor and set off for the
River Community with soldiers in pursuit.
Victor is unable to tell Bindy of his love. Sean is weakened, but Bindy and Victor do the fighting. They outrun the hunting Vitros,
arriving home to a dubious welcome. The Dean has betrayed Bindy, discovered her secret and forced Matthew to marry.
With Bindy’s return Matthew is outraged. The Dean plans Bindy’s expulsion. Pre-empting banishment, she enlists Victor’s
help and she and Mathew make their escape.
In a private confrontation, the Dean and Victor clash and the mystery of his background emerges. Victor is a clone.
Unknown to the community, the Dean has permitted Victor to live in the village if he agrees to do his bidding.
He blackmails Victor into pursuing the lovers. Against his feelings for Bindy he agrees.
He ponders his false expectations. In the bush he picks up their trail
and at the point of discovery, he allows the lovers to escape. Unaware, Bindy and Matthew journey west
to a new life in the wilderness.
THE END
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