Estuary’ is about a search for identity through discovery of the past. It investigates what belonging and otherness mean in contemporary Australian society. It questions the dichotomies that are often artificially constructed between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, between ideas of sanity and madness, identification as homosexual and heterosexual, and considerations of deformity and wholeness.

It’s the story of Seth, a wood carver and his Aunt Leila, an artist who, while incarcerated in a mental hospital developes a deep friendship with a young Aboriginal woman, Ruby.

The twists of this story go beyond Seth’s personal history and symbolise the complex relationships that are being played out currently in Australia.

 

‘Estuary’ – an unpublished novel. I’m reading some excerpts from this novel.