Who is

Carol Baxter

Author

Genealogist

Cruise ship speaker

Tracing my family history

My interest in historical research — the thrill of the hunt! — began at the age of 15 when we studied The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey in our English lessons. This fascinating and beautifully written novel explores whether England's King Richard III had his young nephews (the heirs to the throne) assassinated in the Tower of London.

I was already a passionate reader and in my spare time I also read books such as Chariots of the Gods and The Bermuda Triangle (which are both the products of dodgy research, as it turns out). I became intrigued by the idea of the historical hunt for the truth. But what did a teenager hunt? At 17, I started researching my ancestry.

What a fascinating hobby! Many different career pathways soon followed.

Professional genealogist

From the moment I started tracing my family history, I wanted to ultimately work in the industry. However, there were no jobs in genealogy in Australia at that time. So I majored in linguistics at university, gaining a knowledge I put to use in my surname studies.

At 24, I saw my dream job advertised in the university's employment opportunities guide: project officer for the Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record (ABGR). The project aimed to generate biographies of colonial Australians and planned to use transcriptions of early colonial records as their foundation.

I became the editor of six books of muster transcriptions (similar to census returns) as well as a series of convict records published on CD-ROM. I also wrote articles for genealogical and historical journals and magazines.

I later became general editor of the ABGR's new incarnation, the Biographical Database of Australia. In that role, I processed many other colonial record series.

Writing a family history

In 2000, I decided to stop researching every ancestral family I was descended from (and my husband, for that matter), and focus on writing a family history of one of those ancestral lines. I chose my First Fleet Nash family, partly because of the Fleet’s involvement in establishing Britain's first penal settlement in Australia in 1788, and partly because there was a large body of descendants who would be interested in purchasing a copy.

It took four years to research, write and self-publish the 29 detailed biographies. It's a lengthy 470 A4 pages and weighs a hefty 1.6kg (3½ pounds).

Writing a popular history

While writing the Nash family history, I stumbled across the story of an important political sex scandal in New South Wales in 1829. I decided to write the story as a "popular history". However, I was a self-trained writer and historian, so I hadn’t been taught to write history in the usual dry academic style. Thus, I unwittingly “broke the rules”. I later learnt that my writing style is called "narrative nonfiction" — history told as a story.

In 2005, I submitted my not-yet-finished manuscript to a single mainstream publisher, Allen & Unwin, one of Australia's top publishers. Much to my surprise, they contacted me a few weeks later. Much to my shock, they offered a five-figure advance to buy the publishing rights.

A year later, it was published under the title An Irresistible Temptation: The true story of Jane New and a colonial scandal. It sold thousands of copies and received critical acclaim, even from the academic history community.

More books followed. Another four were published by Allen & Unwin as shown below and one by a British publisher (OneWorld). Click on the cover images for blurbs and reviews.

International reviews

The Times (London): ‘As lively and readable as a crime novel.’
The Independent (UK): ‘Totally irresistible.’
Daily Mail (UK): ‘A fascinating history, mystery and portrait of a complex, contradictory man.’
The Good Book Guide (UK): 'Meticulously researched and entertainingly told, this is a vivid picture of an electrifying age.'*
Publishers Weekly (USA): ‘A thrilling biography.’ (The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller)
Publishers Weekly (USA): 'Fans of Erik Larson’s true-crime thrillers will be pleased by this gripping account.’ (The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable)
Library Journal (USA): 'Baxter's latest historical title reads like a novel … This title is easily readable, interesting, and enjoyable.’
Maclean’s Magazine (Canada): ‘[A] deftly woven tale of crime, religion and science.’
The Australian (Australia): ‘This spellbinding tale of an extraordinary woman is one of the best books I’ve read in years.’*
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): 'Written with the verve of a crime novel.'
Country Style (Australia): '[A] brief period of derring-do captured to perfection by Baxter's well-researched biography.'*
Melbourne Times (Australia): 'Incredible story of a remarkable woman’*
... and dozens more.

* Not available online or sitting behind a paywall.

Television interest

The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller is being turned into a British-Australian televisions series, The Aviatrix.

Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady has been contracted for an 8-part TV series with the potential for future seasons. The producers describe it as an Australian western in the style of the Coen brothers.

Meanwhile, the "gaming" rights to Black Widow were purchased for a computer game.

Appointments and awards

For my services to Australian genealogy, I was made a Fellow of the Society of Australian Genealogists in 2002. For my genealogy contributions and "popular history" publications, I was made an adjunct lecturer at the University of New England (NSW) in 2011.

Additionally, Breaking the Bank received first prize in the Society of Womens Writers then bi-annual nonfiction award in 2009, while Captain Thunderbolt and His Lady received tied first place in the same competition (since changed) in 2013.

Cruise ship entertainer

I was delighted when my publicity schedule for Mrs Miller included the role of guest speaker at a lunchtime Sydney Harbour cruise. I mentioned to the host, who was a radio and TV personality, that I loved cruising. Indeed, I hoped one day to become an "enrichment speaker" on international cruise ships.

It turned out that the host knew the head of a cruise ship speaking agency. A few months later, I had my first gig — on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas — telling my true tales of murder, mystery and mayhem. The audiences loved them.

Since then, I've prepared more talks and spoken on more cruise ships including Fred Olsen, Crystal and Regent Seven Seas.

Here are some video snippets from my cruise talks.

Family history writing speaker

I was already well-known in the genealogy community when I became a mainstream author, so researchers asked if I’d help them write interesting family histories.

As a result, I've been giving seminars, workshops and webinars on the subject for the last fifteen years. Among my speaking engagements were four Unlock the Past genealogy conferences on international cruise ships. I have also given more than a dozen Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

Additionally, I teach writing skills to general audiences. In 2017, I was a guest lecturer at Sydney University teaching writing skills to the Master's Degree students studying Creative Nonfiction.

Books on family history writing

Since I was giving lectures on family history writing and since I was also a writer, I decided to write books on the subject.

Writing Interesting Family Histories was first published in 2009 and a third edition was published in 2016.

A companion volume, Writing and Publishing Gripping Family Histories, was published in 2016.

Readers are advised to read Writing Interesting Family Histories first, then follow that with Writing & Publishing Gripping Family Histories. Two chapters at the end are devoted to publishing.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

In the last few years, I've given more than a dozen Legacy Family Tree Webinars (a subsidiary of MyHeritage) on developing researching and writing skills.

In 2020, my webinar Turning Dry Facts into Exciting Narrative was viewed 15,000 times in a week. Some of the review comments are shown here.

Attendees urged me to give more writing sessions and to consider preparing online writing courses.

And so the seeds of the Writing Fabulous Family Histories series of online courses were sown.

Are more books coming?

If my literary agent and publisher had their way: yes.

However, after finishing The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller, I was burnt out. I'd essentially worked seven days a week for a dozen years. Additionally, Mrs Miller had spoiled me. I wanted an equally dramatic and well-documented story, but nothing jumped out at me.

Instead, I prepared more cruise ship enrichment talks as I could research and prepare a fascinating talk in a couple of months instead of the 12-24 months it took to craft a book.

In mid-2020, my publisher phoned to say that she had the perfect story for me. She sent me an article, I read it, and I phoned my literary agent to say "Let's go for it." Easiest contract I've ever received! However, just as the advance was about to change hands, I realised that there wasn't enough accessible information to write my style of story, so I pulled the plug on the contract.

In 2022, we discussed a WWII story I would love to write. However, I decided to focus my time on crafting gripping cruise talks instead.