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On Cringila Hill
When a teenage boy is killed in a targeted shooting, the events that unfold rock the lives of the migrant families of Cringila. School friends Jimmy and Piggy have witnessed the violent crime, but need to protect their fledgling drug business.
After seasoned police detective Gordon Winter is assigned the murder case, his investigations uncover long-buried secrets and an entrenched culture of loyalty and fear.
On Cringila Hill weaves a gripping story of power, racial tensions and blood ties in a once-vibrant industrial community.
After seasoned police detective Gordon Winter is assigned the murder case, his investigations uncover long-buried secrets and an entrenched culture of loyalty and fear.
On Cringila Hill weaves a gripping story of power, racial tensions and blood ties in a once-vibrant industrial community.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Noel Beddoe
3 books2 followersNoel Beddoe worked as a high school principal for twenty years and has been involved in Aboriginal education for most of his adult life, becoming the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal Education Reference Group. His published works include five books of fiction for teenagers, the adult novel Autumn, the personal memoir Dad and Me, which was included in the anthology Fathers in Writing, as well as short fiction, poetry and journalism. His most recent book is The Yalda Crossing. Noel lived and worked for twelve years in Narrandera, a township in the Riverina country of New South Wales. He now lives with his wife on the state’s south coast in Kiama Downs.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 1, 2014
The author of ON CRINGILA HILL has worked as a high school principal for twenty years, and been involved in Aboriginal eduation for most of his adult life, becoming the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal Education Reference Group. Which did seem to make this, his first crime novel, an intriguing prospect. Set in the past, in a community made up immigrants from a range of different backgrounds and religions, in a real location, part of Wollongong in NSW.
Not an area I know a lot about, so I can't say whether it's accurately portrayed but it certainly felt realistic. Shadowed by the major Steelworks, many of the main players in this story have families that have been drawn to the prospect of jobs, of a lifestyle more affluent and prosperous than that left behind. There's some lovely little displays of the differences in the past and the present - in particular the Macedonian grandfather who is still fascinated by a kettle that can turn itself off when the water has boiled. The same Macedonian grandfather who is ruthless in protecting his own, a powerhouse in the community, respected and feared. A man with plenty of secrets of his own.
Echoing the secrets that his grandson Jimmy and friend Piggy are hiding about the night that they witnessed the shooting of a teenage boy. A teenager involved in an appalling attack on a young girl - schoolgirl sweetheart of Jimmy, immigrant daughter of an Islander family. Another outsider in an area struggling with the tensions between the longer term Macedonian and Turkish residents, the newer immigrants of Italian and Greek background, and the Islander groups. Overlaying any ethnic tensions are the well known influences of drugs, gangs, violence and racketeering. It's a story that's well known in many working class suburbs of Australia and it's drawn out in ON CRINGILA HILL in a realistic, yet non-judgemental manner.
Add to that mix a policeman physically inhibited by a severe back injury, his wife who is struggling with her own role in life and the damage this case will do to his long-term relationship with a much admired colleague and you're looking at a rather bleak environment.
Surprisingly, bleak in a good way. ON CRINGILA HILL isn't a comfortable, entertaining book because it's obviously not meant to be. In it's own particularly low key style, it's engrossing. It's laying bare a world that is flawed and tricky, with the occasional brief glimpse of hope. Same with the characters who inhabit that world. All of which culminated in an ending that was full of loss and hope, with some things resolved and some things left raw and broken.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
Not an area I know a lot about, so I can't say whether it's accurately portrayed but it certainly felt realistic. Shadowed by the major Steelworks, many of the main players in this story have families that have been drawn to the prospect of jobs, of a lifestyle more affluent and prosperous than that left behind. There's some lovely little displays of the differences in the past and the present - in particular the Macedonian grandfather who is still fascinated by a kettle that can turn itself off when the water has boiled. The same Macedonian grandfather who is ruthless in protecting his own, a powerhouse in the community, respected and feared. A man with plenty of secrets of his own.
Echoing the secrets that his grandson Jimmy and friend Piggy are hiding about the night that they witnessed the shooting of a teenage boy. A teenager involved in an appalling attack on a young girl - schoolgirl sweetheart of Jimmy, immigrant daughter of an Islander family. Another outsider in an area struggling with the tensions between the longer term Macedonian and Turkish residents, the newer immigrants of Italian and Greek background, and the Islander groups. Overlaying any ethnic tensions are the well known influences of drugs, gangs, violence and racketeering. It's a story that's well known in many working class suburbs of Australia and it's drawn out in ON CRINGILA HILL in a realistic, yet non-judgemental manner.
Add to that mix a policeman physically inhibited by a severe back injury, his wife who is struggling with her own role in life and the damage this case will do to his long-term relationship with a much admired colleague and you're looking at a rather bleak environment.
Surprisingly, bleak in a good way. ON CRINGILA HILL isn't a comfortable, entertaining book because it's obviously not meant to be. In it's own particularly low key style, it's engrossing. It's laying bare a world that is flawed and tricky, with the occasional brief glimpse of hope. Same with the characters who inhabit that world. All of which culminated in an ending that was full of loss and hope, with some things resolved and some things left raw and broken.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
February 20, 2014
This is such a beautifully crafted story with great compassion for its characters.
The subject matter of violence, drugs, murder, corruption is treated sympathetically against a wonderfully believable landscape south of Sydney.
There's a compassionate reflection on the stories of migrant Australians, of their struggles and for some the descent into the criminal world - but never judgmental.
The dialogue is always truthful and indicative of character. Morality and how to behave is at the core of this story.
There's a wonderful developing structure with seamless connections. It was a pleasure to meet these characters, especially Gordon Winter, a seasoned detective and Jimmy, on the edge of criminality but struggling to do better.
Noel Beddoe demonstrates how a story should be told.
The subject matter of violence, drugs, murder, corruption is treated sympathetically against a wonderfully believable landscape south of Sydney.
There's a compassionate reflection on the stories of migrant Australians, of their struggles and for some the descent into the criminal world - but never judgmental.
The dialogue is always truthful and indicative of character. Morality and how to behave is at the core of this story.
There's a wonderful developing structure with seamless connections. It was a pleasure to meet these characters, especially Gordon Winter, a seasoned detective and Jimmy, on the edge of criminality but struggling to do better.
Noel Beddoe demonstrates how a story should be told.
April 27, 2014
“I was moved by those limpid visions of landscape and the characters who move so sadly and haltingly through it” is how Tim Winton describes this January release from Queensland University Press.
I travelled outside my comfort zone and read this new novel by Australian author, Noel Beddoe. On this occasion, my journey has been totally rewarding; I raced through the book in two sittings only interrupted because I had to eat and sleep. Reviewing it took longer, because this is a complex novel which tells many, albeit intertwined, stories.
Recently on the 7.30 Report on the ABC, Beddoe’s novel was portrayed as being about crime in Wollongong. I suppose that is one way to read it, but it doesn’t seem to me that this is the author’s intent. (Presumptuous aren’t I to assume I know the author’s intent?) Whilst Beddoe pulls no punches in his descriptions of violence, I don’t think violence is the point of the novel.
Set in Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, On Cringila Hill, as I read it, is about love, relationships, loyalty, family and consequences.
When we brought people from many nationalities and faiths to Australia to do the jobs “Australians don’t want to do” for example in the steelworks in Port Kembla, we didn’t consider the consequences. With no regard to their historical allegiances, we dumped them together and expected them to get along. These early actions have consequences and when the jobs disappear, when these people are replaced with machines, there are further consequences?
The Elders take care of things; Elders such as Lupce Valeski. They get the young men into the right clubs, the right unions and the right political parties. They take care of their own. They build their own places of worship. They keep to themselves, but co-operate with the Elders of other groups. If there is a problem, they meet and find a solution.
So when a young man is murdered on Cringila Hill, the locals, police and civilian are horrified not as much by the murder, they have happened before, but because for the first time, the weapon of choice is a gun. Guns have come to the Hill and that is not the way things are done there.
There are witnesses to this murder; two young men Jimmy and Piggy, but as they are running a drugs business, they don’t want the police getting any closer than necessary.
Loyalty and relationships are not only found on Cringila Hill. The ranks of the local police have their fair share of loyalty, disloyalty and relationships; their community is not so different to the community they are charged to protect. When speaking to Lupce Valeski, Detective Gordon Winter, the chief investigating officer, accidentally uncovers a much earlier murder. This discovery challenges his loyalty to a former associate and places his marriage in jeopardy if he pursues his enquiry.
Researching Noel Beddoe I learned he was Principal of Warrawong High School; Warrawong is a suburb of Wollongong along with Cringila and Port Kembla. No wonder the novel speaks with a true voice! The author writes from experience not from second hand knowledge.
I am not a crime reader, so when I read On Cringila Hill described as a detective story, I nearly left it on the shelf. I am so glad I didn’t! This novel is powerful and Noel Beddoe tells a strong story. I feel the ending allowed for a sequel – I hope so.
I travelled outside my comfort zone and read this new novel by Australian author, Noel Beddoe. On this occasion, my journey has been totally rewarding; I raced through the book in two sittings only interrupted because I had to eat and sleep. Reviewing it took longer, because this is a complex novel which tells many, albeit intertwined, stories.
Recently on the 7.30 Report on the ABC, Beddoe’s novel was portrayed as being about crime in Wollongong. I suppose that is one way to read it, but it doesn’t seem to me that this is the author’s intent. (Presumptuous aren’t I to assume I know the author’s intent?) Whilst Beddoe pulls no punches in his descriptions of violence, I don’t think violence is the point of the novel.
Set in Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, On Cringila Hill, as I read it, is about love, relationships, loyalty, family and consequences.
When we brought people from many nationalities and faiths to Australia to do the jobs “Australians don’t want to do” for example in the steelworks in Port Kembla, we didn’t consider the consequences. With no regard to their historical allegiances, we dumped them together and expected them to get along. These early actions have consequences and when the jobs disappear, when these people are replaced with machines, there are further consequences?
The Elders take care of things; Elders such as Lupce Valeski. They get the young men into the right clubs, the right unions and the right political parties. They take care of their own. They build their own places of worship. They keep to themselves, but co-operate with the Elders of other groups. If there is a problem, they meet and find a solution.
So when a young man is murdered on Cringila Hill, the locals, police and civilian are horrified not as much by the murder, they have happened before, but because for the first time, the weapon of choice is a gun. Guns have come to the Hill and that is not the way things are done there.
There are witnesses to this murder; two young men Jimmy and Piggy, but as they are running a drugs business, they don’t want the police getting any closer than necessary.
Loyalty and relationships are not only found on Cringila Hill. The ranks of the local police have their fair share of loyalty, disloyalty and relationships; their community is not so different to the community they are charged to protect. When speaking to Lupce Valeski, Detective Gordon Winter, the chief investigating officer, accidentally uncovers a much earlier murder. This discovery challenges his loyalty to a former associate and places his marriage in jeopardy if he pursues his enquiry.
Researching Noel Beddoe I learned he was Principal of Warrawong High School; Warrawong is a suburb of Wollongong along with Cringila and Port Kembla. No wonder the novel speaks with a true voice! The author writes from experience not from second hand knowledge.
I am not a crime reader, so when I read On Cringila Hill described as a detective story, I nearly left it on the shelf. I am so glad I didn’t! This novel is powerful and Noel Beddoe tells a strong story. I feel the ending allowed for a sequel – I hope so.
February 28, 2014
It was wonderful to discover an Australian writer I didn't know, writing about second-generation Australians growing up in Port Kembla where their parents had come to work in the dirty steelworks jobs that 'Australians wouldn't do'. The story begins with a murder, has a rape case and an unsolved crime at its heart and a police officer as one of the main characters but it is much more than a crime novel. I was most interested in the characters - young people struggling to accept or escape from their environment, in the delicacy of the relationship between Dimce (Jimmy) and Luz and in the inevitability of consequences that arose from choices made by characters in the past. Socially realistic, empathetic and with a compelling storyline, this novel ticks all the boxes.
May 16, 2014
Having grown up in the northern suburbs of Wollongong I was attracted to this book by its title. I loved the book, the characters and settings certainly rang true. Noel kept the suspense up so much that I read it in two days, just had to know what happened to Jimmy et al. The plot was excellent and Detective Winter was a very believable, caring policeman. The descriptions of Cringilla, Warrawong and Port Kembla brought back many memories of these areas and days around the lake and up the mountains.
I do disagree entirely with his premise that the immigrant labour was there because the Australians refused to work at the steelworks. My father worked there along with most of my childhood friends' parents, the vast majority of these were Aussies. The migrants came because Australia did not have the population needed to fill the workforce and because most of them were leaving countries where they had little chance of work. They came to better themselves and improve the lot of their families. Aussies worked side by side with the migrants.
Also Noel often mentioned the highway. However the highway is not in that area. There is a main road, Five Islands Road, but the highway is at Unanderra.
Despite these discrepancies I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will look out for further books by Noel.
I do disagree entirely with his premise that the immigrant labour was there because the Australians refused to work at the steelworks. My father worked there along with most of my childhood friends' parents, the vast majority of these were Aussies. The migrants came because Australia did not have the population needed to fill the workforce and because most of them were leaving countries where they had little chance of work. They came to better themselves and improve the lot of their families. Aussies worked side by side with the migrants.
Also Noel often mentioned the highway. However the highway is not in that area. There is a main road, Five Islands Road, but the highway is at Unanderra.
Despite these discrepancies I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will look out for further books by Noel.
October 29, 2016
I picked this up because of its setting more than anything else, and that was my mistake it seems. The storyline just isn't my thing, and it being written in 3rd person present tense made parts of it read like a play. Very distracting. I wanted to like this but I just didn't unfortunately.
June 17, 2021
A really gripping novel about street kids and their lives and loves and hopes. You can't help but get involved in the characters and hope things work out well for them despite their often unpleasant behaviour.
February 17, 2014
Gripping and engaging, this book carried me along with the integrity of its characters and the logic of their narrative. It's greatest strength is the detailed observation and precise description of behaviour, place and nuance. No word is wasted, or out of place. We build a sense of the characters through this detail, coming to understand the link between gesture, attention, intention, values, world view, motivation and action. Every sentence furthers the story and supports the reader.
And it's a great story - murder mystery, police procedure, love story, adolescent rites of passage in a very contemporary Australian context yet transcending all of these elements to capture the complex, heartbreaking, hopeful intelligence and efforts of a group of people we so want to see survive and contribute to their families and communities. It is to the book's credit that I didn't long for an easy solution, accepting the logic of the imperfect world created so deftly - and hoping for a sequel.
I enjoyed every minute of reading it.
And it's a great story - murder mystery, police procedure, love story, adolescent rites of passage in a very contemporary Australian context yet transcending all of these elements to capture the complex, heartbreaking, hopeful intelligence and efforts of a group of people we so want to see survive and contribute to their families and communities. It is to the book's credit that I didn't long for an easy solution, accepting the logic of the imperfect world created so deftly - and hoping for a sequel.
I enjoyed every minute of reading it.
October 6, 2014
I bought this book when I went to a talk by the author and really enjoyed hearing him speak. The book absolutely lived up to my expectations. It was a murder mystery, but to me that is not really what the book is about. I think the book is about the people that live in the suburb of cringila and around, and their history. Living near wollongong myself, I particularly enjoyed the local information, and it all felt very real to me. I loved the characters in the story, and found the story itself very easy to read. I loved the way it was told, with sensitivity and respect, with unique people rather than stereotypes filling the pages. Highly recommend it.
April 13, 2014
This is an interesting peek in to a 'sub culture' of NSW, that you sometimes hear about on the news, but rarely in a positive light. It is also a peek in to the changing culture of Australia, from manufacturing / shipping / industry to a "services" focus and the impact this change has upon those whose livelihood has depended upon the former.
April 6, 2015
'On Cringila Hill' has a palpable sense of place. It is a place of family loyalties going back generations, where people know their place and keep their secrets. The shooting of a teenage boy changes everything - this is not how things are sorted on Cringila Hill. The investigation reveals some secrets, but should they have remained unknown?
April 28, 2014
I don't like books written in the present tense. It must be very hard to write and I find it impossible to read. I know there was a good story in there somewhere and at least one good character but it just wasn't for me.
June 9, 2014
On Cringila Hill is set in the Wollongong area where I've been living & working for the past 8 months. I found the story totally engrossing, the characters credible and the story line was plausible. Definitely worth reading
April 6, 2016
Although I'm ambivalent about the way the spoken word of the working class/ethnic characters is written and slightly cheated about the book's conclusion, in the end I was found the story of this Australian community engaging (and depressing).
November 16, 2016
I actually really liked this book, having grown up in Lake Heights the various locations made it a great walk down memory lane. The story itself was a fascinating insight into the politics of the people.
July 13, 2014
Very well written and really gives you insight to my own local area. Written from good knowledge of the area I hope there is more like it
April 23, 2014
Didn't care about the characters enough to go on. The police interviews dragged and felt like a massive info dump.
May 13, 2014
Just couldn't get into this one, so definitely won't be finishing it.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews