Undeniably a country girl, Tracee has lived all her life in central Victoria, working in various fields including as a small business operator, Adult Education, community development and Child Protection.

With an interest in family history, she became intrigued by her grandfather, Albert Henry Spiby’s, military history from the Somme to Singapore and embarked on a journey of research and discovery that developed into a passion. Determined to write it all down authentically, she set out to equip herself with the skills to tackle the project, do justice to her grandfather’s story, and honour the memory of all those who serve in wars.

One Hell at a Time is Tracee’s first book. She is currently working on a second manuscript telling of Albert Spiby’s experiences during the Second World War as part of the A.I.F. 2/4 Reserve Motor Transport Company in Malaya and as a P.O.W. in Changi.

In 2018, for the centenary of the end of the Great War, my daughter and I undertook a tour of the battlefields and attended the dawn service in Villers Bretonneux. The dawn service was incredibly moving, as was walking through old trenches and trying to understand what went on and why. Seeing the tons and tons of rusted equipment, shells and wire still being cultivated from the ground one hundred years later is sobering. But perhaps one of the most memorable and moving, was the French schoolchildren at the schoolhouse singing Waltzing Matilda, in English. It certainly brought a lump to many of the attendees’ throats.