Speaking a Silence

Reed, 1981. Some shelf wear. Fading to DW spine.
Fiften characters - fifteen views of a rural heritage which is the stuff of our national identity and a neglected part of our folklore.
Speaking a Silence brings to life the memories of a community - details of lives spent in mine, mill, farm and home, the philosophies born of amaterial hardship and commitment to land and community. Here, the men and women of a vanishing generation speak for themselves and their times.
Armed only with a pile of papers and pencils, Christine Hunt set out to rediscover the spirit of the isolated Golden Bay community which, if unique in particular details, is typical of remote rural townships anywhere in the country.
She sought out and befriended the local characters and what she heard she wrote down, without deference to the niceties of style and grammar and without apology for quirks of fact and phrase. What she discovered was a rich vein of lore.
For many, this was the first time that memeory had reached the shape of words; for others it was a chance to reassess the value of experiences trivialised by familiarity.