The Lake Mac Heritage Series was placed to pay homage to the people, places and events that contributed to building and pioneering the Lake Macquarie region. The pick and shovel were chosen in this geoart series to symbolise the hard work the people of Lake Macquarie put forth into the region.

Peter Kocan

His father died in a car accident three months before Kocan was born and they moved to Melbourne where his mother remarried. When the marriage didn't work out the family moved to Sydney.

When Kocan was fourteen he left school. He went off into the country to work as a station hand. Then he returned to Sydney to work in a dye factory. He was 19 when he approached Calwell's car as the Labor leader was leaving an anti-conscription rally at the Mosman Town Hall in Sydney on June 21, 1966. Calwell had just finished addressing a Sydney rally against conscription for the war in Vietnam, and was leaving when Kocan approached him. Calwell began to wind down his window, assuming the young man was a well-wisher. Instead, Kocan produced a sawn off rifle and pulled the trigger. The bullet shattered the window of Calwell’s car, spattering him with broken glass and bullet fragments.

Deflected on impact with the window, the bullet lodged in the lapel of his coat and Calwell sustained only minor facial injuries from broken glass.

Kocan was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. After a short stint at Sydney's Long Bay jail, he was transferred to Morisset Psychiatric Hospital for the criminally insane, where he immersed himself in books and started writing poetry.

Calwell later visited Kocan in the mental hospital, and forgave him.

Kocan had two volumes of verse published while in Morisset, one of which, The Other Side of the Fence, was runner-up for the British Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Released on licence in 1976, he pursued a career as a novelist, basing the stories on what he knew best, life in prison and the mental health system.

In 2010 Kocan, now 63, won the $50,000 Australia Council Writers Emeritus Award in recognition of his "exceptional contribution to Australian writing".

Even this lifetime achievement award was overshadowed by his instance of infamy. Kocan declined to talk about his success, leaving that to Australia Council Literature Board chairman Dennis Haskell.

Professor Haskell hailed Kocan as "one of Australia's most gifted writers" but acknowledged that despite "four powerful novels, five collections of poetry, awards and acclaim, he is still associated with his criminal past".

Two autobiographical novellas, The Treatment (1980) and The Cure (1983), told of his life in the asylum. The Cure won the 1984 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Fiction. His other works include the poetry volumes Freedom to Breathe, Standing with Friends and Fighting in the Shade, the joint collection Primary Loyalties and the science-fiction novel Flies of a Summer The novel Fresh Fields, is a fictionalised account of his youth. His most recent novel, The Fable of All Our Lives is based on his life after his release from Morisset.

Kocan lived for many years on the Central Coast of New South Wales, teaching, acting, and writing drama, poetry and fiction. He gained public recognition for his work, receiving regular support from the Literary Board of the Australia Council, and has won various literary prizes. He graduated from the University of Newcastle in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and obtained a master's degree. He moved to Brisbane in 2003.

Fiction: The Treatment (1980)
The Cure (1983)
Flies Of A Summer (1988)
Fresh Fields (2004)
The Fable Of All Our Lives (2010)

Poems: The Victorian Age
The Statue
Send Me Jenny Agutter
The Two Horsemen
Reversal

All historical and heritage information courtesy of Lake Mac Libraries

Any questions regarding this puzzle cache or the LMHS geoart series will be answered by clicking HERE

*** The LMHS geoart was placed in conjunction with the OzGeoMuster 2018 mega event. The OzGeoMuster 2018 committee would like to thank the following people for their contribution to this series. ahomburg, day1976, sedgwickDave, The Morris, bobbiesgirl, and the_garbageman.***