The Big Blue single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 2018... 2018 The Big Blue
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The house wasn't always right on the lip of the cliff but, in the big storm after Dad left, a wall of sandstone sheered away and crumbled into the sea below, taking with it most of the yellow gravel driveway and the front steps. The steps left a dark hole in the verandah foundation like a gap from a missing tooth but no-one could see it except gulls hovering in the cliff's updraught. The verandah slumped its shoulders at the loss and you had to keep the peeling wooden railing firmly in your grip to peer over the edge. Down there, stone lay in segments, some in the water, some out, some already sand washing up on the beach to the south. Thick cat -o-nine- tails of giant kelp dried on top of the stone blocks. Seaweed pong mixed with powerful ocean smell, rising as solid as a wall of glass in front of the house. The grainy stickiness of salt lay everywhere. Waves pounded at the foot of the cliff, sending frissons up through house stumps, the noise such that everyone raised their voices slightly until it seemed natural to speak that way. If you stood in the house and looked out, sea filled windows as if it were rising up the glass in a flood. ' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Island no. 152 2018 13236932 2018 periodical issue

    'More days than not, I drive the Channel Highway south of Hobart: kids' after-school obligations, stockfeed to collect, an Island meeting in town or an 'in conversation' to run at Fullers Bookshop. The narrow curves of the road, the insane insouciance of overtaking utes, the dazzling vistas that open towards Bruny Island have already become habitual, a matter of muscle memory. The most notable thing about Oyster Cove, which I pass between the villages of Kettering and Snug, is that the farm shop there is the best place to buy apples. It's also a mobile phone black spot. ' (Geordie Williamson : Editorial introduction)

    2018
    pg. 40
Last amended 15 Mar 2018 05:47:39
Informit * Subscription service. Check your library.
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X