Darwin

by Tess Lea

Darwin is a survivor, you have to give it that. Razed to the ground four times in its short history, it has picked itself up out of the debris to not only rebuild but grow...Darwin has known catastrophes and resurrections; it has endured misconceived projects and birthed visionaries. To know Darwin, to know its soul, you have to listen to it, soak in it, taste it. This is a book about the textures, colours, sounds, and frontier stories of Darwin, Australia's smallest and least-known capital city. Darwin is a place that has to be felt to be known. Readers will sense the heat, smell the odours, hear the birds and the frogs, encounter the mosquitoes, fathom racial politics, and learn how the moon-base that is Darwin is kept alive. They will understand that Darwin is a military garrison and a portal into Australia's possible futures. In a new postscript, Tess Lea suggests how Darwin might deliver lessons for living under the climatically assaulting and culturally uncomfortable times of the Anthropocene.

317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2020

Reviews

[Kafka Esque · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deep and wide reflection of Australia's most enchanting yet vexing city. In the political imaginary, Darwin is a place of ifs. Yet ambitious plans go often unrealised:
– "If Australian history properly starts in the north, then it seems the leading edge of its future is unfolding here too. Perhaps bearing the mantle of Charles Darwin is a proper responsibility for this place after hall."
– "... The one Darwin can still yet be, gathering in the alternative possibilities that were always in its foundations, if it learns to better protect its exhausted ecosystems, if it leads on climate change preparedness, if it proudly assets Indigenous sovereignty, if it refuses anti-Asian propaganda, if it remembers its multicultural origins, if it comes out from under military over-rule, if it adopts abolitionist ethics, if it builds on vernacular creativity, if Darwin could truly be different ... If."