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Gloriana and the Twins Hunt for Pirate Treasure
by John Last


Long John Silver, the villain in Robert Louis Stephenson's adventure story, Treasure Island, had a parrot. This story is another episode in the life of that parrot. She was hatched in the household of Queen Elizabeth, "Good Queen Bess," and named Gloriana by Queen Elizabeth herself. Captured by pirates, she went ashore many years later with one of the pirates who opened a pawn shop at Port Adelaide. Nine-year-old twins, Jennifer and Christopher, bought the parrot and discovered her conversational abilities. Gloriana tells the twins she knows where the pirates' treasure is buried. Accompanied by their parents, they set off to recover the treasure, traveling across inland Australia from Adelaide to Northern Queensland, pursued by three villains. Jennifer is kidnapped by the villains who want to exchange her for Gloriana; but Gloriana, aided by squadrons of parrots, rescues her. After further adventures, Jennifer, Christopher, and their parents, recover the treasure, which turns out to be ancient Chinese porcelain, not gold, silver and jewels. The villains chase Gloriana and her human companions in a speedboat, but its engine breaks down and the villains get horribly seasick. The twins' father hands the villains over to the police.


John Last photo

John Last was born in Australia in 1926. He has lived for 40 years in Australia, 10 years in the UK, 2 years in USA, and 40 years Canada. He graduated in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1949. After 12 years in clinical medical practice he specialized in epidemiology and public health sciences. He is the author or editor of several well-known reference textbooks and technical dictionaries of epidemiology and public health, and several hundred original articles, editorials, reviews, etc. In 1962 on a long sea voyage from England to Australia he made up a story to tell two toddler age children. He wrote this story down for the first time in 2012; as he was writing, the characters came to life in his head and took over, changing it from a story for toddlers to one more suitable for older children.


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