Tasmania’s understanding of itself is enhanced by every new project Pete Hay and Tony Thorne undertake. Geographical, historical, political, Mountains & Valley takes us through the Central Highlands and down the Derwent, from the land’s geological formation, on through invasion – ‘the inexorable inward tide’ – and into a time of ‘twee cafes serving Devonshire tea’. We glance into the lives of Kikatapula, making ‘the best of a bad bargain’, an Ouse ambulance driver on the way to ‘a prang just out of Derwent Bridge’ and a spotted-tailed quoll ‘speaking grace / speaking a deceptive delicacy’. 

Hay’s prose is inflected by grief, ‘for the passing of people / of place, for the passing of all the living that lodges within’ while Thorne’s stark, delicate black and white imagery captures the intricacies of this ‘net of stories upon the land’. ‘With insight, tenderness, keen self-awareness and a huge, heartbreaking love for this complex island, Tony Thorne and Pete Hay peel away sentimentality and uncover the true heart of Lutruwita. 

Mountains & Valley is a worthy follow-up to the brilliant Last Days of the Mill and a testament to the enduring power of two of Tasmania’s great storytellers.’ 

~ Jane Rawson, author of Human/Nature: On life in a wild world and editor of Island