The 2019 Reading Challenge is continuing at a cracking pace. This month's theme - Geography and Travel - has given us a chance to explore far flung corners of the world, as well as our own back yard.
This week, Nathan looks at Aboriginal Australian trade routes, Sharon travels into a nuclear wasteland in a submarine and Scott spends some time in Patagonia.
Nathan Miller read Aboriginal dreaming paths and trading routes: The colonisation of the Australian economic landscape, by Kerwin, Dale.
Sharon Bryan read On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
You've heard of "post-apocalyptic novels"? The books set sometime after the "something that happened", where the world as we know it has be completely wiped out by a nuclear explosion (or some such) and a rag-tag group of survivors is trying to carve out a new life or civilisation?
On the Beach is an "apocalyptic" novel. The "something that happened" is still happening, and we're doomed. China, the USSR and America had a bit of a misunderstanding involving cobalt bombs and the entire of the Northern Hemisphere has been wiped out, with the cloud of deadly nuclear radiation slowly making its way down the globe. The last vestiges of humanity are living what's left of their lives in the southern parts of Australia and South America (and New Zealand, but we don't hear much about them), and waiting to die. This is a simple fact, one that only a few deluded people avoid thinking about - the radiation is coming, and everyone will die of radiation poisoning in a few months' time.
Where does "Geography and Travel" come in? Well, the book follows the last months in the lives of an American submarine commander and his Australian attaché as they head back up to the Northern Hemisphere to investigate a strange signal from Seattle. Might there be hope for life after all?
This book isn't exactly an action thriller. More like a soap opera at the end of the world. It's still fascinating, though, and as Nevil Shute emigrated to Australia before writing it, he counts as an Australian author. Highly recommended.
Australian author, fiction, 820A SHU 1C ONT
This week, Nathan looks at Aboriginal Australian trade routes, Sharon travels into a nuclear wasteland in a submarine and Scott spends some time in Patagonia.
Nathan Miller read Aboriginal dreaming paths and trading routes: The colonisation of the Australian economic landscape, by Kerwin, Dale.
A common myth is that Aboriginal Australians were ignorant
of the wider world, did not travel far beyond their local area - or, alternatively, roamed aimlessly. That they had no large scale geographic understanding of
Australia. The truth is the whole of Australia was mapped orally and abstractly
through song, songlines, spiritual stories and abstract designs - partially for
trade of physical items including particularly hard stone axe heads, shells
and even narcotic substances. It was also used for large ceremonies with
accompanying feasts, and seeking refuge when climatic conditions were difficult
both within one's own estate but also one's neighbours'. But a central core was
the ceremonial knowledge that underpinned it both for exchange and simply
knowing and also the customary law and spirituality that covered the whole
continent.
In Queensland, several major songlines criss-cross the state
from the Cape and east coast across other states and link up to the southern
and western states. In this book there are various songlines covered showing
the extent of this network. It was even used by tourism departments to base
guides for showing interesting places to visit. Many highways and roads
including in Sydney are based on some of these pathways or highways (as described
by the first Europeans). A great book to read about Australia and still
relevant to this day.
Australian author, non-fiction, 994.0049915 KER
Sharon Bryan read On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
On the Beach is an "apocalyptic" novel. The "something that happened" is still happening, and we're doomed. China, the USSR and America had a bit of a misunderstanding involving cobalt bombs and the entire of the Northern Hemisphere has been wiped out, with the cloud of deadly nuclear radiation slowly making its way down the globe. The last vestiges of humanity are living what's left of their lives in the southern parts of Australia and South America (and New Zealand, but we don't hear much about them), and waiting to die. This is a simple fact, one that only a few deluded people avoid thinking about - the radiation is coming, and everyone will die of radiation poisoning in a few months' time.
Where does "Geography and Travel" come in? Well, the book follows the last months in the lives of an American submarine commander and his Australian attaché as they head back up to the Northern Hemisphere to investigate a strange signal from Seattle. Might there be hope for life after all?
This book isn't exactly an action thriller. More like a soap opera at the end of the world. It's still fascinating, though, and as Nevil Shute emigrated to Australia before writing it, he counts as an Australian author. Highly recommended.
Australian author, fiction, 820A SHU 1C ONT
Scott Dale read In
Patagonia by Bruce
Chatwin
When I was
moving through South America a few years back, I noticed that the further south
I headed, more and more of my fellow travelers were reading Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia. These backpackers seemed
to have put down their account of a Bolivian prison and picked up Chatwin’s
unconventional book about Patagonia, the most southern region of Chile and
Argentina. There is an appeal to reading about an area as you travel through it
but this book has a way of taking you to those windswept southern lands
regardless of where you are when you read it.
Ok, so what
is this book? It is not a novel. It is more a collection or collage of stories
and tales from the people and places of Patagonia. The 97 chapters range in
length from a paragraph to a few pages long. The book does loosely follow
Chatwin’s travels through Patagonia but is full local histories and stories
that he learned along the way. We hear about Butch Cassidy’s South American
exploits and how the cowboy may not have died in a shootout like Paul Newman in
the famed film; we meet expatriates with a fierce loyalty to lands left long
behind; we hear local tales and myths, and we get to know the beautiful landscape.
 |
| Intrepid Librarian, Scott Dale, In Patagonia |
And what a
landscape it is. There are icy cold shores, snow capped mountains, brilliantly
coloured wild flowers, lakes and rivers that are fed by remarkably blue
glaciers, and islands that stretch out to the end of the world. Unfortunately
the only photo I could find of myself in Patagonia is the attached image - a
terrible pose in front of a glacier. Not quite as whimsical as Chatwin
Non-fiction, 918.27046 CHA
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