Madman's Island : ETT Imprint : 9781925706970 : 06 Feb 2020 : In 1920, though, as the three ex-diggers talked across the bar at the West Coast, swapping stories of the War and goings-on in Cooktown and along the coast, the pioneer vision would have still been fresh and sustained by hope and dreams. All that was needed was a little luck ? which might come from the Chinese gambling den across the way, or at the races, or a tip on a 'sure thing', be it trepang, trochus, timber or the treasures of the earth. So that day Idriess signed up for a sure thing with George Tritton ? or perhaps not such a sure thing; Dick Welsh, Idriess's best mate, chose not to go. Even so, a few days later Jack (Idriess's frontier name) and George set sail for Howick Island. Before the end of the decade Idriess had renamed both the Island and his companion ? he wrote that he had gone to Madman's Island with his mate, Charlie. Madman's Island; Idriess as character and author ? fact or fiction. Fifty books later t