PAGES FROM LOST NOTEBOOKS: Goths and Vandals in Rome

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Today I went into Rome and climbed to the top of Il Vittoriano for some wonderful panoramic views of the city.

In one direction, at the far side of the Forum, was the Colosseum.

In another direction across the rooftops and churchs was the massive dome of Saint Peters.

Immediately in front of me was the Forum, or what remains of it after years of neglect, pillage and vandalism.

And as I looked across Rome and considered what had become of the glory that was ancient Rome I thought of the vandals and the goths who had taken advantage of the gradual decline of the empire.

Not much has changed I thought. Nearly every railway station and many of the train carriages in Rome have been covered in graffiti by vandals. And while I was thinking of the present day vandals I noticed two present day Goths.

They were just below me near the Forum. Bright red hair. Black leather boots with heels at least 10 centimetres thick. Sculls and crossbones adorning their bags. And they were taking photographs of each other with the Forum in the background.

I watched them for a while and then decided to go to the Forum myself. But on the way I stopped and offered to take their photograph for them. They thanked me politely in English with a strong Germanic accent.

Yes, the Goths and Vandals are still alive and thriving in Rome.

Long Stories

Long Stories and Novels

Most of the longer stories were based upon real experiences. Yet they have a certain poetic licence applied to them.

Dear Rebecca is an account of a journey made to Europe during the northern winter of 1998-1999. It is accurate in that it describes the places and events, and that there are many Rebeccas, but the letters were never sent.

Dear Rebecca by Douglas Wilkie |

The Memory of Dreams is an account of another journey made to Europe in the European Winter of 2000-2001. The places described were visited, most of the people described were met, but did not necessarily all of the things described happened in quite the way the story tells it.

Family Histories

Family Histories

The Cossticks is the story of the Cosstick family from origins in Sussex, England during the 1600s through to the emmigration of one family to the Victorian goldfields during the 1850s and the subsequent growth of that family in Victoria.

The Hamiltons is the story of a branch of the ancestors connected to the Cossticks. It traces the Hamiltons from their origins in Kent, England during the 1700s; the illustrious life of Sir John Hamilton at Dover, Kent; and the emmigration of one branch of the family to South Australia in 1837 where the Hamilton's Ewell Winery was established by one branch of the family while the other journeyed to the goldfields of Victoria and met the Cosstick family.

The Wilkies is the story of the Wilkie family from Scotland during the 1700s; through the generations who worked in Glasgow of the Industrial Revolution; through the involvement of the family in the Great War of 1914-1918; to the emmigration of one of the branches of the family to Australia.