AustLit

'A friend told me there were native orchids growing behind the Cascade Brewery in South Hobart. She reckoned they were growing in such ambitious numbers you had to be careful where you placed your foot, but days later, when I found the spot, I was certain my friend had made a mistake. The track was nothing more than a narrow scribble, a dusty trace of macropod traffic, and the scrub around it seemed equally desiccated – all white gums, baked earth and bleached leaf litter. I couldn’t imagine anything remarkable growing in such a listless place.' (Introduction)