Footscray of the 1950s and ’60s has been brought back to life in a new book published to celebrate the memory of one of its authors.
Helen and Serge Cerne wrote Shifting together in alternate chapters, sharing the story from male and female perspectives about growing up in and around Footscray.
Mr Cerne was an artist, writer and teacher at Bayside College, but died at the end of last year.
Ms Cerne, a Victoria University teacher and co-ordinator of Western Union Writers, said she wanted to publish the book and launch an exhibition of her husband’s paintings to keep his voice and vision alive.
The exhibition was held in Footscray during the BigWest Festival, along with the launch of
Shifting, the true story of two children growing up in the aftermath of World War II.
Ms Cerne said the couple’s paths almost crossed a number of times as children; Serge’s family fleeing the aftermath of war and her own family, with a policeman father, passing through the same country Victorian towns and schools, before settling in Melbourne’s west.
“We met at Footscray in year 12, but we had all these parallels in our lives,” she said. “It is really a collaborative autobiography – we did read each other’s chapters along the way, but we wrote very differently.”
The manuscript sat in a drawer for two decades until a friend encouraged Ms Cerne to have it published soon after Serge’s death.
“It was one way of grieving,” she said.
“It’s a unique love story. Helen Garner [who launched the book] said it’s a slow burning fire.”
Shifting, published by The Vulgar Press, is available at VU’s MetroWest bookshop.
