You have reached the web site of the Creeks and Harbours series of books, created by Richard Hawkins and now revised and published by Lawling Press.
Richard recently took the decision to retire from publishing and to spend more time with family and community activities. Lawling Press is proud to take over the update process and keep these books in print.
This website is part of that process. On this site you will find information about the books that was not previously available to prospective purchasers: sample pages and descriptions of changes to current editions.
But this site provides more than that. The ongoing success of these books over two decades has been due not only to the excellent work put in by Richard Hawkins himself, but also to the willingness of a large number of people to share their knowledge and expertise with him about the creeks and harbours that they know well.
We hope that this sharing of information will continue in the future, and to this end we have included on this site a contact page, and through this we hope you will let us know of any errors or omissions you may find. However, we also hope that you will let us know of any changes or developments in the creeks and harbours that you may become aware of. The books cover a considerable area of Victoria, and it can sometimes be hard to keep track of everything that is happening to the waterways.
In the past is has often be difficult to purchase these books, particularly in places far from the creeks and harbours they describe. We have therefore included a page on this site where you can purchase the books direct from us, postage free. We hope you will find this facility useful.
We hope you enjoy using the books and wish you safe and happy boating.
We would like to pay tribute to Richard for the wonderful pioneering work he did in researching and then publishing his highly successful, respected and invaluable Creeks and Harbours series. Having spent considerable time on the recent update of the Port Phillip book, we recognise that the task Richard undertook to map and then describe the waterways of Victoria and the countryside that surrounds them, was truly Herculean.
We at Lawling Press will remain true to Richard's original aim to provide a series of useful guides for all those who go afloat in craft drawing up to three metres whether sailing, fishing or just cruising. However, we will be extending the books' reach by including features that take advantage of recent advances in technology and communications - in particular the world wide web.
