Getting away from it all

I always like to pack up my year metaphorically speaking on December 22, the day of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere and regarded by some as the start of summer. Although culturally speaking Australia still follows the European pattern of four seasons of equal length, people who live close to the land use such things as the activity of birds and the flowering of plants rather than a calendar to determine the seasons. Actually, summer has already been around here since November. The cicadas started then and the wildflowers such as the chocolate lily started flowering at the beginning rather than the end of December and during the next couple of months the experts will watch the skies and the movement of insects as they try to predict the odds on rain or more drought.

There’s still Christmas to come of course and catching up with family and friends, then at last, whatever the weather, there is  the possibility of putting aside the daily routine comes within reach.

While for some people getting away from it all means travel overseas but I like the idea of looking for peace and tranquility and new adventures nearer home, so the question I have to ask myself is living where I do and as I do can I retreat from a retreat?

Yes. Finding peace and quite is a state of mind rather than a place. A change of scene can help, and while you don’t have to book a fare or pack a suitcase to leave home, it still takes an effort to find some real peace.

One of the things I will do is to visit Gooram Gooram Gong, at least once by myself and once with a friend to look for the changes, particularly the more subtle ones that this summer will bring to it. I will take a sketchbook as well as a notebook, and when I return, I’ll compare notes with Susan and Peter. They both have known Gooram for longer than I have, and when I listen to them and see their work, I realize that I am still learning how to see the place.

The Edge Collective will also make time to get together and discuss our next move, and make some broad plans for 2008. I say broad plans because as we look back on this year, we did achieve some of our aims, but not quite as we’d set them out.

We didn’t publish Palimpsests as a book yet, but we will. We have followed a lot of interesting leads and learnt a lot about the options that are available. In the meantime, here on our website.


We have made some good contacts with Land Care and other organizations involved in the management of water. So far all our contacts have been very encouraging and positive but informal. We have also found that making contacts takes much more time than we thought it would, and so no firm arrangements for expanding our dialogue and involving others in working with us. It will happen. If we judge our success by how far our ideas have developed and our potential for expanding the project we have done well. Making art takes time and needs space. It is also importance to keep room within the collective for individual development in various directions.

There are a few other things on my list, including more work on my Wimmera diaries and finish reading  Moby Dick, often called the greatest environmental novel. Also I want to leave room for a few surprises

Towards the end of January, I’ll come back to this and try to assess how successful I’ve been, and I will keep in mind the words of photographer Peter Dombrovskis when speaking of setting out into the Tasmanian wilderness: “When you go out there you don’t get away from it all. You get back to it all. You come home to what’s important. You come home to yourself.”