The Microbee was an Australian computer designed, built, and marketed by Applied Technology, in Gosford, N.S.W. Originally released in February 1982, it was intended for the schools market but also had a wide and deep following amongst home users. A considerable amount of software was published locally for the Microbee, through Honeysoft. Many titles were games.
Roseanne Gare recruited David Smith as one of several programmers with educational backgrounds to develop software titles for Jacaranda.
David Smith recruited Gerald Wluka to code Raft-Away River for the Apple. Gerald was a student at Melbourne Grammar School, in one of DLS’s maths classes (that is how David was known at MGS),. David learnt that Gerald was an Apple enthusiast and asked if he could do the work. Of course the answer was yes. The thoughts of a high schooler being paid for his hobby was too attractive – any hurdle could be overcome
Rosanne Gare, originally a teacher, was appointed to set up the software division within Jacaranda Wiley, and oversaw and contributed to the development of many notable games particularly for the educational sector.
Jacaranda is the Australian imprint of U.S. publishing company, Wiley. In the early 1980s, the company was run by an “inspirational leader”, John Collins. Collins decided that there might be a place for materials for the computers that were then beginning to appear in schools.