ITEM 4

Parrabah by Bronwyn Englert

The mesmerising painting in the exhibition of a whale leaping from the water shows the story of Parrabah, the southern great right whale.

Bronwyn Englert has captured a moment in a traditional story of Parrabah, when she leaps past Poora Tingale, also known as Arch Rock.

Under the light of a full moon, Parrabah is pursuing Meningha, a shark who is threatening her calf.

If you stand on the beach at the southern-most point of Verona Sands, and look towards Alonnah on Bruny Island, you can see Arch Rock nestled by the mouth of the Huon River.

ITEM 5

Melukerdee Counting Book by Judi Rhodes and Tanya McQueen

The last melukerdee item in the exhibition is the Melukerdee Counting Book.

Accompanied by photos of birds and animals that live in the Huon Valley, Tanya and Judi have written a book to guide children, and adults, through the melukerdee words for one to ten.

ITEM 6

Queenie’s Little Book of Comfort by Judi Rhodes and Tanya McQueen

Judi and Tanya have also written Queenie’s Little Book of Comfort, the story of Queenie the baby quoll, who is frightened, so she runs to Eric Echidna's house for help. Eric shows Queenie how to feel brave.

Both Tanya, a melukerdee woman, and Judi, live in the Huon Valley and have spent decades working with local children to help them stay calm and keep safe when the world feels a bit frightening.

ITEM 7

Travelling Tasmanian Tigers by Margie Kirk

Margie is a local illustrator and children’s writer living in Cradoc, to the south of the Huon River.

Her fantastic artwork and beautiful words combine in this engaging children’s book, Travelling Tasmanian Tigers, to take readers on a tour through Tasmanian towns where thylacines make friends with wombats, echidnas, wedge-tailed eagles and black swans.

You can spy all of the animals in the book somewhere in the Huon Valley – except, perhaps, for the tigers.

ITEMS 8 and 9

The Mystery in the Garden and Heart and Soul by Carol Ann Martin

Carol Ann, who lives in the vibrant artists’ village of Cygnet, is an award winning author. Her brand new series, Wodge and Friends, begins with The Mystery in the Garden.

Packed with daring escapades and oodles of laughs, The Mystery in the Garden features a grouchy fairy statue, a nosey twerp of a neighbour and a mysterious creature with an all-consuming love for broccoli ice-cream.

Carol Ann’s second book in this exhibition is Heart and Soul, an uplifting celebration of friendship, the trust between a man and his dog, and the power of music to bring harmony and joy. Its charming illustrations were created by Tull Suwannakit.

Both books make for wonderful bedtime reading.

ITEM 10

The Oyster Girl by Wren Fraser Cameron

Wren lives off-grid far to the south of the Huon Valley.

Wren’s novel for young adults, The Oyster Girl, offers a version of lutruwita, or Tasmania, that you may not have read before. A story about sailing and the sea, it shows the island through the eyes of an unforgettable woman, Pearl Macqueen, the Oyster Girl.

It’s the perfect book to read while lazing beside the river bank.

ITEMS 11 AND 12

What Now, Tilda B? andTalk Under Water by Kathryn Lomer

Winner of the 2011 Margaret Scott Prize, What Now, Tilda B? was inspired by the rare birth of an elephant seal on a Dover beach, to the south of the Huon Valley. It’s a young adult novel about finding yourself, your friends and your future.

Kathryn’s second book in this exhibition is set to the east of the Valley, in Kettering. Talk Under Water is a page-turning story of friendship and adventure which celebrates and embraces difference.

If you venture to Dover or Kettering, you might discover the exact sections of coastline that inspired Kathryn’s stories.

ITEM 13

Song for a Scarlet Runner by Julie Hunt

Winner of the 2014 Readings Children's Book Prize, Song for a Scarlet Runner tells the story of a girl who is trying to find her place, a boy who has been held hostage for 9000 years, and a scarlet runner, or sleek, who may be friend or foe.

The author, Julie Hunt, lives to the south of the Huon River surrounded by fascinating landscapes and the stories they inspire. But a story can be a dangerous thing…

ITEM 14

A Treacherous Country by K.M. Kruimink

Kate spent most of her childhood in the Huon Valley and, after adventures abroad, has returned.

A Treacherous Country, her first novel, won the prestigious 2020 Australian/Vogel's Literary Award.

The story recounts the incredible journey of Gabriel Fox, an Englishman who arrived on the menacing shores of the notorious Van Diemen’s Land, charged with finding a woman who had vanished almost thirty years earlier.

ITEM 15

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett

A hauntingly beautiful tale, Past the Shallows is the story of two brothers growing up in a fractured family on the wild coast between Bruny Island and the Huon Valley.

Favel’s first novel, Past the Shallows won the Dobbie Literary Award in 2012, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Favel also won Newcomer of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards that year.

If you stand on the edge of the Channel and look across to Bruny Island on a stormy day, you can almost hear the brothers’ cries on the wind.

ITEM 16

The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens

Set in the orchards of the Huon Valley, The Last of the Apple Blossom is Mary-Lou’s ode to a way of life now erased by time.

Through natural disasters, personal calamities and the devastating collapse of the apple industry, Catherine and her neighbour Annie battle to save their livelihoods, their families and their secrets.

This story captures the emotions and experience of Huon Valley residents who lived through the devastating bushfire seasons of 1967, 2019 and 2020.

ITEM 17

The Orchardist's Daughter by Karen Viggers

Starting life on an apple orchard, isolated and home-schooled, 16 year old Miki’s life is turned upside down when she’s forced to run a small business with her older brother in a timber town, where tensions simmer both inside and outside the home…

Set in the old-growth eucalypt forests and vast rugged mountains to the south of the Huon Valley, The Orchardist’s Daughter is a bittersweet tale of friendship, resilience and finding the courage to break free.

ITEM 18

Crow Speak by Gail Galloway

The Huon Valley’s landscape, people and animals can also inspire poetry, as was the case for Gail Galloway, the creator of Crow Speak.

A poet, writer, and artist, Gail began her journey as a storyteller while living in Franklin in the 1990s. She recently returned to the Valley to release her first book of poems, Crow Speak.

A collection of wry and wild verse, it speaks to nature, politics and autobiography, in feathered tales that weave from Tenterfield in NSW all the way back to the Huon.

ITEM 19

Rogue Intensities by Angela Rockel

Winner of the 2019 Dorothy Hewett Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, Rogue Intensities by Angela Rockel is a lyrical memoir exploring relationships between humans and nature.

Angela, a writer, poet, reviewer and editor, lives in the hills overlooking the Huon River, and is inspired by her daily encounters with the Valley’s natural world and her own past in it.

ITEMS 20 AND 21

Green Nomads, Wild Places by Bob Brown and Paul Thomas and Planet Earth by Bob Brown

The Huon Valley is home to many people dedicated to helping others and the environment. One of its more famous activists is former Australian Senator Bob Brown, who fights for the protection, health and sustainability of the natural world.

Bob is also a prolific author. This exhibition features two of his more recent works. Green Nomads, Wild Places, written with his partner Paul Thomas, chronicles their trip to some of the most remote and beautiful places in south and west Australia.

Planet Earth: Inspirations and thoughts from a planet warrior is a book of both inspiration and a call to action, a clear message from Bob’s point of view on the issues facing our planet.

ITEM 22

Tales from Three Corners, a podcast anthology by Jacq Ellem

Set in a fictional town in a rather familiar Valley, Tales from Three Corners is a podcast anthology written by local audio creator Jacq Ellem.

Like most small towns we know, Three Corners seems rather ordinary on the surface, but you’ll be surprised at what lies underneath.

This marvellous collection of audio flash fiction is currently shortlisted in the 2021 New Jersey Web Fest Awards for both Outstanding Anthology and Outstanding Drama. Good luck Jacq!

ITEM 23

The Farmer and the Yam and Other Fairy Tales from around the World, a collection of sung folktales by Raine & Wageman

This marvellous collection of folk and fairy tales of strong women from across the globe, set to music and told in song, was created by two of the Valley’s most dedicated artists, Mike Raine and Miranda Wageman.

Both Mike and Miranda live in the Valley and work tirelessly to create new work and to support others in their artistic endeavours.

ITEM 24

Rosehaven, an ABC TV series created by Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor

The ABC’s gentle comedy Rosehaven, about small town life in a fictional Tasmanian town, is filmed on location right here in the Huon Valley.

With wonderful tongue-in-cheek antics, it harnesses humour and heart in a way familiar to most local residents, some of whom feature in cameos on the show!

ITEM 25

The Ambitions of Jane Franklin by Alison Alexander

From the desk of Dr Alison Alexander, one of Tasmania's best-known historians, The Ambitions of Jane Franklin: Victorian Lady Adventurer won the 2014 National Biography Award.

This chronicle of Lady Jane, a well-known past visitor to the Huon Valley, defines her as a remarkable person in her own right; exploring her years in Tasmania in her role as the governor's wife, as well as her very public battle to save her husband from accusations of cannibalism.

ITEM 26

The Last Pirate Hanged by G.S. Willmott

In The Last Pirate Hanged, local author G.S. Willmott tells the globe-trotting tale of Captain William Swallow, a wayward English boy who grew to become a convict transported to Tasmania.

Following one of his many escapes, William joined a mutiny to steal a ship from Recherche Bay, far to the south of the Huon Valley.

From there he sailed to Tonga, Japan and China, and then back to England.

As you might guess from the title of this book, things didn’t end well for Captain Swallow and his companions.

Two of them became the last people in Great Britain hung for piracy, while William himself was captured and transported from England right back to Tasmania… To live out his life in the penal colony at Port Arthur.

ITEMS 27 AND 28

Egyptian Enigma and The Great Divide by L. J. M. Owen

A multi-award winning writer and the Director of the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, L.J. wrote the third instalment in her Dr Pimms archaeological mystery series shortly after moving to the Huon Valley. She reported at the time that the insomnia caused by screaming Tasmanian devils outside her bedroom window helped her to write tension-filled scenes capturing the life and death struggle for the throne of ancient Egypt.

After her first winter in the Valley, L.J. then wrote The Great Divide, a murky, atmospheric tale of a city detective hunting a killer through a fog of lies in rural Tasmania.

This novel is best read sitting by a roaring fire on a cold and foggy night.

ITEM 29

How The Dead See by David Owen

How The Dead See is the sixth novel in David Owen’s unique Tasmanian crime series, Pufferfish.

In this instalment Pufferfish, aka Detective Franz Heineken, heads to the south of the island on a mission to solve an apparent suicide. Dark, funny and prickly, this mission sees Pufferfish carrying out surveillance by the shores of the Huon River in Franklin.

David is the author of more than twenty novels and non-fiction books, as well as being the Official Secretary to the Governor of Tasmania.

ITEM 30

Dyed and Buried by Livia Day

Dyed and Buried is the first instalment in a new Tasmanian cosy mystery series called Fashionably Late. Set at a Kingston beachfront boutique, with investigative forays to the Huon Valley, Dyed and Buried takes readers into an intriguing world of fashion and murder.

The series’ award-winning creator, Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts, writing under the nom de plume Livia Day, has deep ties to the Valley. Tansy was inspired to start her new series after attending the Terror Australis Readers and Writers inaugural Festival in 2019.

ITEM 31    

Crocodile Tears by Alan Carter

Alan Carter has won Australia’s Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, and New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. Now living on the Channel to the Huon Valley’s east, Alan is about to release the fifth and final instalment in his award-winning Cato Kwong series.

With his life on the line, this latest novel sees Cato travel from his home in Western Australia all the way to the Huon Valley.

ITEM 32

Kudelka and First Dog's Spiritual Journey, a tale of whisky, bickering and cheese

Now the proud Huon Valley custodian of pademelons, thistles, jumping jacks and feral rose bushes, in this delightful book you can follow First Dog on the Moon and his mate Kudelka as they venture on a spiritual journey along the dangerous Tasmanian whisky trail.

ITEM 33

Milk. Made. by Nick Haddow

Milk. Made. is a comprehensive tour of the art of cheese-making and cheese recipes, compiled by Nick Haddow, the owner of the world famous Bruny Island Cheese Company.

Nick now also runs the Glen Huon Dairy, where his cows graze lush grass by the banks of the Huon River.

ITEMS 34 AND 35

Summer on Fat Pig Farm and The Real Food Companion by Matthew Evans

Known the world over as the Gourmet Farmer, Matthew and his partner Sadie Chrestman have inspired many a visit to the Huon Valley, particularly to their much-loved Fat Pig Farm, for a glimpse of real farm life and a taste of its glorious produce.

In Summer on Fat Pig Farm, Matthew showcases beautiful seasonal produce with a collection of fresh and simple recipes.

And, in The Real Food Companion, he explains how to ethically source, cook and eat real food. It's like having a farmer, a butcher, a fishmonger and a baker by your side in the kitchen.

ITEM 36

A Table in the Orchard by Michelle Crawford

The owner of the enormous Edwardian bank in Franklin, Michelle is a food-obsessed former city slicker who wrote A Table in the Orchard to illustrate how seductive a taste of slow living in one of the world’s most beautiful valleys can be.

ITEM 37

A Table in the Valley by Elaine Reeves and Steve Cumper

Capturing the lives of more than 50 of the Huon Valley’s food producers, A Table in the Valley is a wonderful combination of personal stories, stunning photography and scrumptious seasonal recipes.

From Dr L.J. Owen and the team at the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, we hope you’ve enjoyed this showcase of the diverse and creative people and stories in the Huon Valley.

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