'The Good Farmers of Gowrie: Passing Down Their Acres': new book passes down history of Gowrie in stories told by direct descendants

Now, it's flying off the shelf and demand is continuing to grow.

While it may only have a population of around 3000 people, the rich history of Gowrie has gone cover to cover to celebrate the stories of the district.

Titled 'The Good Farmers of Gowrie: Passing Down Their Acres' the 600 page publication pays tribute to the early settlers of the town, with stories told directly by their descendants, the current crop.

Former secretary Evelyn Keane, and accountant Tony Orr, said they were inspired to put pen to paper after they were welcomed with open arms by the Gowrie community.

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"When we first arrived they took us in, looked after us and made sure we knew everything we needed to know," Ms Keane said.

"It's been life-changing for us."

Ms Keane said she was honoured to celebrated the ordinariness of the rural human spirit that otherwise would go unnoticed.

"Anybody can write about somebody famous, but there's so many lives, full lives lived, especially in farming communities."

The duo spent two years researching, interviewing, and tracing the lives of the first Gowrie settlers and families.

Mr Orr said many hours were spent looking through electoral roles, census information and birth, deaths and marriage records to find snippets of information that would help piece together the puzzle of Gowrie's history.

Even if it was just a small snippet of information, the couple managed to track down every person who had settled, or bought land in the farming town.

Not expecting the huge response they've received, the couple originally only ordered 150 copies of the book which sold out in just three weeks, and to their surprise, none of the first buyers were even from Gowrie.

Ms Keane said they'd had orders from distant relations of settlers and history fanatics right across the country.

The authors agreed that knowing they had created something that could be passed down for years to come was what made the experience so special.

"The problem when we talk to people now is they say, 'oh I wish I had spoken to my dad more or written things down'," Mr Orr said.

Ms Keane said the book had also been donated to the library at Duri Public School to encourage the kids to "ask more questions".

To meet the growing demand and pass on the tales of Gowrie the book is now being sold in Collins Booksellers on Peel Street.

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