Wildlight: A Journey

by David Metzenthen

Dirk, found in the forest as a young child, is treated as something feral and wild by other members of the bush settlement in Victoria in 1840. At seventeen, when he finds a cache of sovereigns inside a log he is splitting, Dirk realises he has been given his independence. With the sovereigns tied around his waist, he sets out to discover what the world holds, who he is and what he wants to do with his life. Dirk travels to the frontiers of the new and strange land and comes to understand himself in the process. This is an evocative, exciting story on a broad, sweeping canvas. Peopled with vivid characters, Wildlight is set against a backdrop of burgeoning settlement in Victoria.

281 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2002

About the author

As a child, David Metzenthen was a nature boy; he loved fishing and farm work, exploring the bush, and being outdoors under the stars. He also lived very much inside his own head; feeling that the world was a place of unlimited adventure. He harboured dreams of becoming a cowboy, a fisherman, a farmer, a sailor, or a writer. Instead he left home at eighteen, with a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the Road for company, and hitch-hiked his way around New Zealand. Returning to Australia, David worked as a builder's labourer and advertising copy writer before finding success as a writer of books for children and young adults.

David Metzenthen now lives with his wife and two children in Melbourne and is one of Australia's top writers for young people. He has received many awards for excellence, including the 2000 CBCA Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for Stony Heart Country, a 2003 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Wildlight, and a 2003 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Boys of Blood and Bone. In 2004, Boys of Blood and Bone also won a NSW Premier's Literary Award and was an Honour Book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers. His novel Black Water was an Honour Book in the 2008 CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers, and Jarvis 24 won the CBCA Award for Book of the Year: Older Readers in 2010, as well as being shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award, WA Premier's Literary Award, Inky Awards and SA Festival Awards for Literature.

Reviews

[Tracey Jago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildlight is about a young man, Dirk, who has grown up in a shed at Tilmore. The three main families in Tilmore found him in the wild, but the only family who looked after Dirk was the Taylors. Dirk’s life with the Taylors wasn’t perfect. He went about each day finding his own food to eat. The Taylors did provide food and rags but not much else.

Dirk is on a journey to free him of the past. He heads to Melbourne in search of the sea, as he has never seen it before. On his journey Dirk meets many people who help him, and he also talks about Bella McKauge who Dirk loves without knowing.

Dirk finds it’s dangerous, exciting and lonely on his travels. His main friend along his journey is his dog Speed.

The book is based in Australia and the surroundings and is a good read. 4/5

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Anyone who loves Tim Winton should read this.