Pepper and Salt

In 2002 Margaret entered a competition which was part of the Women in Australia 's Working History Project based at the Australian Workers' Heritage Centre in Barcaldine , Queensland , as part of the celebrations for the Year of the Outback.

Her story “Pepper and Salt” appears in the anthology produced by the Australian Workers' Heritage Group “Songs of the Unsung Heroes”. This story can be read by Googling Margaret Visciglio on the web, as the Heritage Centre asked Margaret's permission to publish it there.

Margaret attended the Book Launch of the anthology at Barcaldine in 2002.

The Book Launch was performed by Margaret Whitlam and was a gala event. This was the first time Margaret felt like a real author, as she sat beside Margaret Whitlam and the other authors who had contributed to the anthology and signed books for the queues of people before her

Margaret had to leave the book signing early as she had impulsively put her name on a list of candidates to enter a BUSH ORATORY competition on the subject “Where does the Outback Begin?”

With Margaret Whitlam and other authors	Launching the Book

Synopsis

“Pepper and Salt” is based on the true story of her great-grandmother, Emma Scott,who is engaged in making bread for the shearers on her sheep property near Lake Sunday , York Peninsula when the task is interrupted by the birth of her last child, Alma, who becomes Margaret's grandmother. Tragedy looms as drought and the death of Robert, Emma's husband lurk in the background of the story. The child's birth and rain bring a joyful ending to the story.