Travels with My Hat is a memoir of my adventures as a travel writer
in Africa, South Asia and the Arab world. Beautifully designed, it is lavishly illustrated with
photographs and maps and includes poignant correspondence with my mother who had never left Australia.
GREAT MOMENTS IN TRAVEL
When I would think, well this is what I've come for and the physical and psychological demands of the effort to get here, are now worth it...
MY MOROCCO
When I first set foot in Morocco as a young backpacker in the 1960s,
I was captivated by the ever changing desert and mountain scenery, its colourful peoples
and fascinating souqs. My book Collins Independent Travellers Guide to Morocco was published in 1990.
WORLD WATER DAY
Some 1.3 billion people in the world lack access to clean water. Women and children spend an estimated 200 million hours a day hauling water, often over great distances from the source. Here Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa, one of the driest places on earth.
Photo Library Collections
Thousands of images covering travel, culture and religions can be found in Christine Osborne Pictures and the World Religions Photo Library
I first visited Qatar in 1975 when it was still a quiet backwater. This I understood was due to its old merchant families being unable to agree on who owned the prime real estate in capital Doha. In June 1995 when Crown Prince Hamid al-Khalifa deposed his father in a bloodless coup, Doha stirred, then sprang to life. Today the flat, desert state still has no natural water—not even a stream—but vast reserves of oil and gas makes native Qataris the richest people per capita in the world. Where the highest point on the peninsula was once the top of Bedouin tent, today Qatar challenges Dubai with a plethora of stunning skyscrapers overlooking the Gulf. The following photographs taken on several visits during the 1970s-80s, are a record of Qatar’s not so distant past. I have not been back since then. The final photo by Global Insight shows how Doha looks today.
ARID LANDSCAPE IN CENTRAL QATAR MORPHS INTO TRUE DESERT IN THE SOUTHRUINS OF AN EARLY COASTAL SETTLEMENT NEAR AL-ZUBARAHANCIENT WELL-HEAD NEAR AL-ZUBARAH TAPPED A SUBTERRANEAN SPRINGBEFORE OIL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1939, PEARLING WAS A SOURCE OF INCOMEFISHING DHOWS MOORED IN AL-RUWAIS 1976BEDOUIN IN THE INTERIOR WERE STILL LIVING IN TENTS IN THE 1970sTHE WOMEN EXCELLED AT WEAVING, HERE A CAMEL SADDLE BLANKETWASTE GAS FLARES FROM AN ONSHORE PROCESSING PLANT IN 1975THE VAST OIL AND GAS PRODUCING FIELD OF AL-DUKHN IN WESTERN QATAROLD CORAL STONE HOUSES WERE BULLDOZED TO MAKE WAY FOR NEW ONESDELICATE NAQSH PLASTER WORK IN A TRADITIONAL HOUSELAST OLD ‘GULF COAST’ STYLE MOSQUE ON THE NORTHERN TIP OF THE PENINSULAHOUSE IN THE FORMER FISHING VILLAGE OF AL-WAKRAH DEMOLISHED IN 1976AERIAL VIEW OF THE GULF COASTLINE SOUTH OF DOHA IN 1976
TYPICAL ARCHITECTURE IN CENTRAL DOHATRADER SORTS A GOOD CATCH IN DOHA’S FISH MARKETA TRADER PUFFS ON A NARGILA IN SOUQ AL-WAQIF, CENTRAL DOHAPROFESSIONAL SCRIBE TYPING DOCUMENTS FOR A MIGRANT WORKER, DOHA, 1975SCENE IN THE VEGETABLE MARKET IN 1975, QATAR NOW GROWS ITS OWN PRODUCETHE DOHA SHERATON, QATAR’S FIRST 5-STAR HOTEL OPENED IN 19792017, STUNNING SKYSCRAPERS LINE THE ONCE CONTESTED WATERFRONT IN DOHA
http://www.visitqatar.qa
About Travels with My Hat
Australian photojournalist and author. Used London as a base for nearly forty years while freelancing in the Middle East, Arabian peninsular, Africa and South Asia. Have written and illustrated more than a dozen books and travel guides. Operates a well regarded religious images stock photo library: www.worldreligions.co.uk. Live in Leura in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney.
