Louis Pasteur, rabbits and literary awards

They're a dashing, articulate and endlessly fascinating duo.

Already an acclaimed international author of historical books, Dando-Collins' winning tome Pasteur's Gambit is the true and previously murky story of Louis Pasteur's failed attempt to win a government competition to eradicate rabbits in Australia.

The Literary Award judging panel said the book was a "rollicking read that shed light on a little known scientific saga of the late 1800s."

Pasteur's Gambit is the result of two years meticulous and dogged research around the world. Then, bunkered down in their converted nunnery in the Tamar Valley in Tasmania, Dando-Collins took a year to sort and review the data and write the sell-out book.

It tells the true story of New South Wales Premier Sir Henry Parkes' 1887 international competition for a biological cure for the rabbit plague that was destroying farms in Australia and New Zealand.

Parkes' government advertisement for the equivalent of a $10 million prize attracted 1500 entries.

But it was the French biologist and father of germ theory, Dr Louis Pasteur's desperate need to raise money to build and equip his Pasteur Institute in Paris that sparked this tale of intrigue in Australia.

Dando-Collins says Pasteur's assumption of rapid success but ultimate failure was virtually unknown in the scientific community.

"Pasteur decided to send his nephew and young prot?g? Adrien Loir to Australia to quickly prove the science of his rabbit plague remedy, win the money and then return to Paris within six weeks."
But Pasteur didn't count on what Dando-Collins says was the scurrilous efforts of his German rival Robert Koch, a secret affair in Australia between Loir and French actress Sarah Bernhardt, dodgy judges and crooked Australian politicians.

In the end, the prize was not awarded and Australia continues the fight to eradicate the millions of rabbits that still devastate farming land in every state and territory.

The destruction costs Australia about $200 million a year.

EsteemedAustralian immunologist and former Australian of the Year Professor Sir Gus Nossal recently wrote to Dando-Collins to thank him for writing the book, saying that he previously had no idea how much trouble Pasteur had raising the funds for the famous Pasteur Institute, or of the Frenchman's contribution to the fight against the rabbit plague.

And CEO of the Australian Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre Professor Tony Peacock says Pasteur's Gambit is a fantastic story made better by the fact it is true.

"Dando-Collins has uncovered a story very few people knew anything about, gone on to research rich untapped material and skillfully laid it out. The result is part science, part history, sprinklings of drama and ultimately a real adventure."

Dando-Collins says he found the science research for the book both daunting and fascinating.

"I read a lot about Pasteur's early work and while much of it went over my head I could understand what he was trying to achieve."

It's Dando-Collins' relentless pursuit of answers to the questions his research throws up that is one of his greatest skills, Louise Dando-Collins says.

"He needs the answers, to understand why people do what they do, and that's what drives him in all of his work," she says.

But there's even more than that to the intellectual challenges Dando-Collins relishes.

"First there is the sheer joy of book research," he says.

"The treasure hunt for answers. It's a forensic approach.

"But there is also the storytelling, and the humanity of the real life characters involved."

He says he is "astonished" by the support and interest scientists have shown in the book.

"I was humbled to be recently asked to give a guest lecture to the Academy of Science in Canberra on the subject of the book. And the Australian Society of Microbiology, for their 50th annual conference in July, asked me to sign 20 copies of Pasteur's Gambit for their international guest speakers, who included two Nobel Prize winners."

Clearly, the scientific community likes a good yarn as much as the rest of us, but perhaps they, more than the general reading public, appreciate the patience, tenacity, attention to detail and intellectual power Dando-Collins has brought to his latest offering.

It is, after all, somewhat of a departure from his usual genre.

Born in Launceston, Tasmania on May Day 1950, Dando-Collins began his literary career as an eight-year-old writing fantasies about new civilizations, purely to amuse himself.

And although he won the science prize at New Town High School in Hobart he went on to study graphic design.

While still a schoolboy, he played rugby and learnt drums which led to playing in local rock bands and running discos.

His convoluted journey to literary acclaim transversed a copywriting and advertising career in Australia, and in the United Kingdom, where at weekends he scoured historical Roman sites, took copious notes and dreamed of the Roman legions.

Surprisingly, his first book - in pop sociology - 2000 AD written in 1986, asked 40 leaders in a variety of fields what they thought the year 2000 would be like.

"Some were very perceptive," he says. "Others could not have been more wrong."

He followed that with several novels and a torrent of commercially successful historical works, mostly on the Roman empire but also covering American history and Australian history.

But it was his 1982 wooing and winning of the award winning, beautiful television producer and presenter Louise Kent that he considers one of his greatest personal achievements.

Theirs is a continuing love story enriched by their mutual admiration and professional respect.

For Louise, a supporting role as sounding board, researcher and travel companion is her significant contribution to the partnership.

"The real magic happens when he has a suitcase full of research; he puts it all out on the floor and then he makes sense of it."

And Dando-Collins is quick to agree with that old adage: Behind every great man there is a great woman.

Questions and answers

Name
Stephen Dando-Collins

Job title
Author

Who do you work for?
Me

Briefly describe what you do
Write mostly historical books, fiction and non fiction.

What do you like most about your job?
Every part of being a full time author who travels the world to research his books.

What is the most unusual or fun thing you've done in your job?
Danced with the Ponca, a Native American tribe in Nebraska, at their annual pow wow, while researching one of my books.

What inspired you to choose a career in this area?
I wanted to be an author from the age of 8.

What did you study to get here?
Graphic design.

Where's your favourite place in Queensland?
Noosa; we lived there for 5 years, and regularly revisit.

What's your favourite flavour of ice-cream?
Rum and raisin.

What's your all-time favourite movie?
I have three - Metropolis, Pulp Fiction, and Jean de Florette.

What was the last thing you ate?
Maggie Beer pate on a panini.

What do you see as the best invention ever?
An ancient Roman invention of a poltus made from spider webs soaked in oil and vinegar to use on shaving cuts.