Acknowledgements

This book was written on the land of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora nation, where I live and work, with thanks and respect to elders past, present, and emerging. Australia was and always will be Aboriginal land.

I am indebted to everyone who allowed me to interview and write about them, especially Doug, Debbie, Luke, Michelle, and Mark. I know it was often painful to revisit the very personal events you described, and you put enormous trust in me to tell your stories accurately and respectfully. I really hope I have achieved this.

I am also indebted to the many people — friends, family, and strangers — who helped finance me in the course of writing this book. Your generosity is truly astounding. A very special thank you to Roger Riordan, Matthew Nelson, the entire Gordon family, and Mum and Papaji.

This project was also supported by the Writing NSW Grants Program, a devolved funding program administered by the NSW Writers’ Centre on behalf of the NSW government and Arts NSW.

Were it not for the Scribe Nonfiction Prize, it’s unlikely this book would ever have materialised. Thank you greatly to Express Media and Scribe for running the prize and giving me — and countless other young Australian writers — the opportunity and confidence to put pen to paper. Without these two organisations, Australian literature would be greatly diminished.

I must also thank Henry Rosenbloom and the entire team at Scribe for accepting my initial proposal and taking me on board. And to my editor, Julia Carlomagno: your hard work, enthusiasm, and remarkable ability of knowing exactly what to say in difficult times was instrumental in transforming what was initially a short essay into a full-length book. I could not have done this without your care and guidance.

A very heartfelt thanks to my wonderful sister, Shaelee Rooke, and to Harry de Moraville, David Leser, Bruce Gordon, Leo Gordon, and my parents for taking the time to read several drafts of the book. Your critiques and detailed feedback have made the final version infinitely better.

I am also incredibly grateful to my very special family at The Burg for giving me both the support and space I needed over the past two years. As I am to Roger Lodsman and the entire team at Sydney Bush Regeneration Company for tolerating my regular requests for time off in order to work on this book.

Finally, thank you to Dimitri, a security guard at the State Library of NSW who approached me at the end of a long, long day of work when I felt myself turning mad to say, ‘It’s good you’re working hard. Otherwise you’ll end up like me when you’re fifty — just walking around a library.’ It’s incredible how the kind words of a stranger can suddenly make everything seem okay. Dimitri — you are so much more than a man who walks around a library.

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