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I Had a Father in Karratha
What happens when your father dies and he’s in the Pilbara, 4,500 kms away?
What happens when your father dies and you fly across to lay him to rest
and find his estate is a spectacular mess of hoarded junk, bank debts, lost
paperwork and rundown properties in a mining town gone bust?
What happens when your father dies and you are the oldest child and the
sole executor of his will?
I Had a Father in Karratha tracks Annette Trevitt’s two-and-a-half-year epic
undertaking of cleaning up her father’s mess in Karratha, Western Australia.
A fly-in fly-out marathon as she holds together her life with her teenage son
in Melbourne.
Written in passages of reflective prose and text messages, what unfolds is
an intimate story of being a daughter of a runaway father – a father who bolted
when the going got tough. Trevitt’s attention to reality is as relentless as the
paperwork, the corporate sloth and greed she faces at every turn. Nothing is
straightforward other than the humour and openness she brings to every
absurd and maddening situation from one end of the country to the other.
This is a story of commitment, responsibility, doggedness and love. A legacy
of an eldest daughter’s determination to honour her father and lay him to rest.
What happens when your father dies and you fly across to lay him to rest
and find his estate is a spectacular mess of hoarded junk, bank debts, lost
paperwork and rundown properties in a mining town gone bust?
What happens when your father dies and you are the oldest child and the
sole executor of his will?
I Had a Father in Karratha tracks Annette Trevitt’s two-and-a-half-year epic
undertaking of cleaning up her father’s mess in Karratha, Western Australia.
A fly-in fly-out marathon as she holds together her life with her teenage son
in Melbourne.
Written in passages of reflective prose and text messages, what unfolds is
an intimate story of being a daughter of a runaway father – a father who bolted
when the going got tough. Trevitt’s attention to reality is as relentless as the
paperwork, the corporate sloth and greed she faces at every turn. Nothing is
straightforward other than the humour and openness she brings to every
absurd and maddening situation from one end of the country to the other.
This is a story of commitment, responsibility, doggedness and love. A legacy
of an eldest daughter’s determination to honour her father and lay him to rest.
- GenresNonfictionAustralia
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2023
About the author
Annette Trevitt
3 books3 followersAnnette Trevitt grew up in northern New South Wales. Her short stories have been published in literary magazines and broadcast on ABC radio and by the BBC. She teaches short fiction and screenwriting in a professional writing and editing program. She lives in Melbourne with her son, Marlon.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 22, 2023
Much of this is painful to read, reminiscent of my father’s abandonment and search for adventure over the prosaic life in the suburbs. Also, who can’t get angry at the evil actions of banks and the inaction of their bureaucratic processes whereby no one will take action or misinterpret requests. Stylistically this is also interesting.
April 23, 2024
Two things I never expected when I started
I Had a Father in Karratha
by Annette Trevitt -
When Annette was very young, her father (bankrupt) abandoned the family and moved to the remote town of Karratha. He began a roofing business and, as the region was in the middle of the mining boom, he did well. He invested in seven properties; was much-loved in his community; and drove 5,000km each year to see his children.
In 2016, he died unexpectedly at the age off 77. Over the following two-and-a-half years, Annette was tasked with untangling his estate - decades of hoarded junk, bank debts, rundown properties and lost paperwork.
To add complexity to an already stressful task, Annette lived in Melbourne (so was essentially a FIFO executor!); was a single parent to her teenage son; and was in the middle of escalating work issues and job insecurity. As the extent of her father's debt became evident, Annette's anxiety rose -
Annette notes that her father '...trusted the bank in the same way he would have trusted a bank in the 1970s...', a time when banks were an integral part of communities, particularly in regional towns, and when bank managers personally knew their customers.
The focus of the book is on the misconduct and unscrupulous lending practices of the banking and insurance industry, and in particular their lack of care for vulnerable customers. Annette provides plenty of evidence, with details of her father's multiple unsustainable mortgages, his overdraft and the small business loans taken out to cover the never-ending interest.
Snapshots of Annette's visits to Karratha and life in Melbourne were beautifully written. Her reflections on parenting and suburban Melbourne were so relatable, it was as if she had access to my passing thoughts -
- and her writing was engaging, with glimpses of the grief that she was clearly working hard to keep at bay. In textbook terms, people generally need to deal with their losses 'in order', therefore it is not surprising that much of Annette's story is focused on her dad leaving the family rather than the immediate grief over his death -
I Had a Father in Karratha is a cautionary tale. Annette is not the first person to battle the bureaucracy of death, but her story stands out (and if my recommendation is not enough, check out Lisa's review).
4/5
1. That the very last line of a book would make me burst into tears (especially having not cried prior to that)
2. That a memoir about being the executor of a will would be one of the best books I've read this year (and will most certainly be in my favourites for 2024).
When Annette was very young, her father (bankrupt) abandoned the family and moved to the remote town of Karratha. He began a roofing business and, as the region was in the middle of the mining boom, he did well. He invested in seven properties; was much-loved in his community; and drove 5,000km each year to see his children.
Dad never had a plan. He would just turn up sometime in our school holidays. The visits were tough going, emotional, especially the departures. I knew Dad loved us but it was hard to understand why, if he loved us, he still wanted to leave us.
In 2016, he died unexpectedly at the age off 77. Over the following two-and-a-half years, Annette was tasked with untangling his estate - decades of hoarded junk, bank debts, rundown properties and lost paperwork.
I felt we were cleaning up the aftermath of 40 years of dad's people-pleasing and problem-fixing.
To add complexity to an already stressful task, Annette lived in Melbourne (so was essentially a FIFO executor!); was a single parent to her teenage son; and was in the middle of escalating work issues and job insecurity. As the extent of her father's debt became evident, Annette's anxiety rose -
One house's insurance premium was $1,242 a month. The house was an ordinary four-bedroom Pilbara corrugated iron house. (The rent was $1,600 a month.). How was that possible?
Annette notes that her father '...trusted the bank in the same way he would have trusted a bank in the 1970s...', a time when banks were an integral part of communities, particularly in regional towns, and when bank managers personally knew their customers.
The focus of the book is on the misconduct and unscrupulous lending practices of the banking and insurance industry, and in particular their lack of care for vulnerable customers. Annette provides plenty of evidence, with details of her father's multiple unsustainable mortgages, his overdraft and the small business loans taken out to cover the never-ending interest.
My father was a private man. He was a proud man. If he had told me his financial situation, he would never have been in this terrible situation. I would never have let a retired 77-year-old man, who spent 42 years on hot tin roofs in the Pilbara, allow himself to be set up to lose everything.
Snapshots of Annette's visits to Karratha and life in Melbourne were beautifully written. Her reflections on parenting and suburban Melbourne were so relatable, it was as if she had access to my passing thoughts -
Today, instead of marking, I had a neck/shoulder massage by a woman called Song who called me, Sir, and had the thumbs of a carnival strong man. Sublime.
Marlon played footy on Sunday in a field of white goods hurling themselves at each other. Fridges with wispy moustaches.
On the plane. Already made a nest of books, notes on the meeting's agenda, sudokus and unread photocopied articles around me. When, in ten minutes, we know, I'm going to flick on the inflight entertainment and watch whatever comes on for the next four hours.
- and her writing was engaging, with glimpses of the grief that she was clearly working hard to keep at bay. In textbook terms, people generally need to deal with their losses 'in order', therefore it is not surprising that much of Annette's story is focused on her dad leaving the family rather than the immediate grief over his death -
For years I thought I had one memory of living with Dad. A time when I had gone to his chest of drawers looking for one of his hankies. The hankie drawer was too high to look in so I had to feel around. All I felt, and can still feel, was the dry plywood lining of an empty drawer. The memory wasn't of him. He had already gone. It was a memory of loss.
I Had a Father in Karratha is a cautionary tale. Annette is not the first person to battle the bureaucracy of death, but her story stands out (and if my recommendation is not enough, check out Lisa's review).
4/5
September 23, 2024
Picked this up on a whim from the library based on a combo of the cover photograph and the poetic mystery of the title - but what a book! This is such a compelling, moving and profound memoir that manages to be about so many things, including grieving, dealing with absent parents, hoarding, the ills of neoliberalism, the beauty and loneliness of remote/regional Australia, the complicated socioeconomic impacts of the end of the mining boom in WA, and the tyrannies of geography (especially as we and our loved ones get older)
June 20, 2023
I read it twice because I just loved it. I loved the pared back style. I found it eloquent and deeply moving. I loved the way Trevitt used the place as a metaphor for the kind of man her dad was and the way she was kind and understanding of the trauma in the men. I laughed quite a lot even though the story was sad and quite emotional, she broke it up with these spot on observational vignettes that just touched my heart. And I loved the way she used the text messages to capture emotions and relationships.
July 6, 2023
Imagine you're trying to pitch a book to a publisher...and it's about being an executor for a deceased estate... It doesn't sound all that enticing, does it? And yet this is a really interesting book, and a cautionary tale as well. I Had a Father in Karratha tells the story of an ordinary bloke who gets seduced by dreams of wealth, and of his daughter living thousands of miles away who doesn't find out what's going on until she becomes his executor.
One of the saddest aspects of this story, is revealed at the end. When the author's stepfather dies, her mother says that she felt it at a cellular level. But Annette has had to put her grief for her father on hold.
"I didn't feel that when Dad died. The sheer workload of being the executor of his estate left little time or space to mourn his death." (p.294)
I've been an executor twice, and I can attest to the enormous of work and the crushing sense of responsibility the role entails. Compared with what Trevitt endured, I had it easy but like her, I was working in a demanding job and both times I found that sorting out the estate was like having an unpaid second job, one for which I had no qualifications or experience. The first time I was asked to do it by an old school friend, I was in my forties and I was so honoured to be entrusted with the role that it never occurred to me to ask, what's involved? What kind of assets do you have that I will need to deal with? The assets turned out to be very little but that didn't alter the amount of work involved, especially since the nagging beneficiaries didn't know how little they were to receive. I had the same stressful troubles as the author with unresponsive bureaucracies: threatening letters from telcos, utilities, and insurance companies in the period between death and when probate is granted, when the executor does not have access to any money to pay bills that are owing. Notifying them of this makes no difference at all. It is horrible to get letters threatening to take you to court. (Tip: I finally got rid of Optus when I wrote back for the umptieth time, basically saying Bring It On. See you in court, and you will be paying the costs.)
And the banks! I haven't banked with The Big Four for decades, and I had no idea just how awful they are, and clearly things have got worse since my friend died. I Had a Father in Karratha puts a human face on the findings of the Banking Royal Commission.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/07/07/i...
One of the saddest aspects of this story, is revealed at the end. When the author's stepfather dies, her mother says that she felt it at a cellular level. But Annette has had to put her grief for her father on hold.
"I didn't feel that when Dad died. The sheer workload of being the executor of his estate left little time or space to mourn his death." (p.294)
I've been an executor twice, and I can attest to the enormous of work and the crushing sense of responsibility the role entails. Compared with what Trevitt endured, I had it easy but like her, I was working in a demanding job and both times I found that sorting out the estate was like having an unpaid second job, one for which I had no qualifications or experience. The first time I was asked to do it by an old school friend, I was in my forties and I was so honoured to be entrusted with the role that it never occurred to me to ask, what's involved? What kind of assets do you have that I will need to deal with? The assets turned out to be very little but that didn't alter the amount of work involved, especially since the nagging beneficiaries didn't know how little they were to receive. I had the same stressful troubles as the author with unresponsive bureaucracies: threatening letters from telcos, utilities, and insurance companies in the period between death and when probate is granted, when the executor does not have access to any money to pay bills that are owing. Notifying them of this makes no difference at all. It is horrible to get letters threatening to take you to court. (Tip: I finally got rid of Optus when I wrote back for the umptieth time, basically saying Bring It On. See you in court, and you will be paying the costs.)
And the banks! I haven't banked with The Big Four for decades, and I had no idea just how awful they are, and clearly things have got worse since my friend died. I Had a Father in Karratha puts a human face on the findings of the Banking Royal Commission.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/07/07/i...
August 27, 2023
‘What happens when your father dies and he’s in the Pilbara, 4,500 kms away?’
This is the story of Annette Trevitt’s two-and-a-half-year ordeal to sort out her father, John’s estate. Annett was seven years old in the 1970s when her father, fleeing bankruptcy, moved to Karratha, Western Australia leaving behind his wife and their three children. In Karratha, John reinvented himself. He had seven properties: very profitable until the mining boom ended.
When John died, Annette flew across from Melbourne to Karratha. John had nominated Annette as the sole executor of his will. She discovered that his estate was a nightmare: a mess of hoarded junk, debts, missing paperwork, and rundown properties of low value now that the mining boom was over.
‘I was flat, teary and overwhelmed.’
Annette, flying between Melbourne, where she lived with her teenaged son and Karratha, faced a nightmare.
I have no direct experience of being an executor. My younger siblings took on these responsibilities when our parents died (they lived in the same state) and found the process relatively straightforward. However, neither of our parents had any real estate interests at the time of their deaths and both had comparatively small assets. Discussions about mementos were civil and removal of personal effects happened quickly (because of the need to vacate rental properties). I can only imagine what a nightmare this process must have been for Annette. And, in addition to the administrative tasks, death of a parent takes a child into memories of the past.
But Annette was unable to grieve for her father at the time of his death:
‘The sheer workload of being the executor of his estate left little time or space to mourn his death.’
A difficult job, done well.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This is the story of Annette Trevitt’s two-and-a-half-year ordeal to sort out her father, John’s estate. Annett was seven years old in the 1970s when her father, fleeing bankruptcy, moved to Karratha, Western Australia leaving behind his wife and their three children. In Karratha, John reinvented himself. He had seven properties: very profitable until the mining boom ended.
When John died, Annette flew across from Melbourne to Karratha. John had nominated Annette as the sole executor of his will. She discovered that his estate was a nightmare: a mess of hoarded junk, debts, missing paperwork, and rundown properties of low value now that the mining boom was over.
‘I was flat, teary and overwhelmed.’
Annette, flying between Melbourne, where she lived with her teenaged son and Karratha, faced a nightmare.
I have no direct experience of being an executor. My younger siblings took on these responsibilities when our parents died (they lived in the same state) and found the process relatively straightforward. However, neither of our parents had any real estate interests at the time of their deaths and both had comparatively small assets. Discussions about mementos were civil and removal of personal effects happened quickly (because of the need to vacate rental properties). I can only imagine what a nightmare this process must have been for Annette. And, in addition to the administrative tasks, death of a parent takes a child into memories of the past.
But Annette was unable to grieve for her father at the time of his death:
‘The sheer workload of being the executor of his estate left little time or space to mourn his death.’
A difficult job, done well.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 14, 2026
"I Had a Father in Karratha" by Annette Trevitt is not what I expected. I, mistakenly, believed it was about a daughter taking over a pastoral estate in the Pilbara after the death of her father. It wasn’t a pastoral estate. It was several town blocks in the post-boom days in Karratha. Why wouldn’t I like it? I worked – briefly – in the Pilbara in the 1960s. I’ve been executor of two wills involving property. I’m a swimmer. I have played jacks (with the authentic sheep bones). I’ve completed a writing course at TAFE. I’ve had to sit through mindless power-point training courses. I’ve stood on sidelines of junior sport. I’m in footy tipping competitions. I’ve followed the exploits of golden orb spiders around my house. I’ve read Ring Lardner, Roy Masters and Kafka’s The Castle is one of my favourite books. I’ve laughed at Jacques Tati movies and Jerry Seinfeld, but no laughing at Wake In Fright. I’ve had Sweet Caroline moments, I like Springsteen. But, alas, not Richard Prior or Clint Eastwood or Aussie Rules football. Identifying with these distractions prevented me from wearying of tirades (justified) against the banks and insurance companies. There were tussles with lawyers, Titles Office employees and prospective buyers. I enjoyed the ups and downs of the chase. And scattered throughout these were memories of an enigmatic father. I’m not into messaging but the messaging style kept the narrative bouncing along.
“Then things changed as auditors and accountants took over, and clumps of forms to fill in, and boxes to tick, began to crowd out our email in-boxes.”
“Then things changed as auditors and accountants took over, and clumps of forms to fill in, and boxes to tick, began to crowd out our email in-boxes.”
July 31, 2023
Despite the admirable ratings, and how hard I tried to enjoy the book, I did not. It was a disappointment. The death of the author’s father in Karratha was the theme of the book but it was primarily about family and a lost mind wandering from one unrelated matter to another.
As the executor of the estate, the author was responsible for finalising the complex estate. She lived in Melbourne, and he had lived in Karratha for 42 years, and badly mismanaged his personal financial affairs. Father's financial situation and the settling of the estate was compounded by the collapse of the mining boom.
The author who wears her heart on her sleeve, has a potty mouth and was very easily distracted by casual things that floated through her mind, she heard or observed, quite often while on one of the numerous train rides dotted throughout the book. Why it was necessary to include these constant matters of nonsense, I have no idea.
The author stated she was unfamiliar with the process of settling an estate, but despite the scope of the work at hand, she did not seek advice.
Whilst the book is easy to read, it cannot be considered a guide for someone in a similar situation.
As the executor of the estate, the author was responsible for finalising the complex estate. She lived in Melbourne, and he had lived in Karratha for 42 years, and badly mismanaged his personal financial affairs. Father's financial situation and the settling of the estate was compounded by the collapse of the mining boom.
The author who wears her heart on her sleeve, has a potty mouth and was very easily distracted by casual things that floated through her mind, she heard or observed, quite often while on one of the numerous train rides dotted throughout the book. Why it was necessary to include these constant matters of nonsense, I have no idea.
The author stated she was unfamiliar with the process of settling an estate, but despite the scope of the work at hand, she did not seek advice.
Whilst the book is easy to read, it cannot be considered a guide for someone in a similar situation.
August 11, 2024
A surprisingly great read. I say ‘surprisingly’ because it is a book I would never have picked up if I just saw it on the shelf. I think I saw it on a fb book group, where it was given a good review. I love the unusual way it was written, with a combination of ‘normal’ text and ‘text message’ type writing. Somehow really put you there, understanding the story and getting to know the people in it. There was so much emotion and depth behind the sorting out of her father’s affairs. Also brought to the forefront the terrible behaviour of banks preying on vulnerable people and their total lack of even the smallest amount of empathy…absolutely despicable. I think I might seek out some of Annette Trevitt’s short stories. This book was a really great find, and just goes to show that it is definitely worth giving a different type of book, that you mightn’t think is your type, a go!
May 15, 2023
Wonderful, raw , honest memoir recollecting all the quirks and imperfections of her father . The only thing I did not like , that filled me with disproportionate rage , was when she would refer to his properties as “ the ones that the bank owned “. What does that mean ? If the bank owns them then you don’t need to deal with them . Do you mean it’s mortgaged , or does it have a negative loan to value ratio ? It was just a small lack of detail that gave off inner city lefty vibes . Otherwise, I thoroughly recommend this book .
October 3, 2023
Readable book. Karratha, family, TAFE all nicely shown. Jolted a bit when Trevitt was 'so over it' quite frequently. Felt this was usually better implied. Similar feelings about 'needing a beer', better to show the scene and perhaps some slowdown around Karratha would have shown it a bit more. But the pace was good. Interesting approach to remembrance and loss and memory and, perhaps intentionally, you never quite get at the father.
June 13, 2023
Loved this book read it in 24 hours, was funny, poignant and so many recognisable moments about family, being a woman in your fifties, faceless institutions, Australian culture and men and the world of work while sandwiched between obligation, parents and your own kids. Also the prose was great, clear and simple writing but charged with suspense. Loved it!
July 3, 2023
This book was fairly short but a lot was said between the lines. I thought it was admirable reading the author’s quest to do justice to her father’s estate. She went to great effort to minimise the effect of his desertion on him, whilst internalising and hiding its effect on her.
I also enjoyed the description of the mining town and its characters.
I also enjoyed the description of the mining town and its characters.
September 23, 2023
An emotional tale that I related to having to go through and help sort out my cousin’s estate with the help of a friend because I lived “in the wrong state” and was os at the time. Such accuracy, so heartfelt. One of the books you hang onto and don’t give away.
January 13, 2025
An unusual style of writing but one that worked very well. I chose it as I wanted a book to dip in and out of while I gave myself room to process my emotions around grief but found myself unable to put it down. As a fellow first daughter, I salute Annette for her fortitude and grace in telling this story.
December 29, 2023
I mean, if Helen Garner picked it as her best book of 2023 it must be good (it is, it is very good). I read this in two days.
January 27, 2024
A beautifully written memoir about loyalty, love, father-daughter relationships and what our parents leave behind. Can't stop thinking about it. Highly recommended.
July 30, 2024
Sublime
May 22, 2023
This account of dealing with a complex estate issue at a distance caused me some anxiety. The situation is very challenging, a father disconnected from his family dies with a large rundown property portfolio for his daughter to sort out. What appear to be assets are actually huge debts, that continue to accrue even after he has passed. Banks and other bureaucracies are less than helpful, it is on the other side of the country. Well written with interesting interleaving of progress reports with text messages to friends. A brave and ultimately successful endeavour.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews