Tracker was the one who made us look more, and work harder. Our special friend always. Strong in my heart is his great gift of giving precious time to me in his last years to work on this book.
I would like to especially acknowledge and say thank you to all of the contributors for their generosity in helping to weave this monumental tribute to Tracker with the rich threads of their stories, memories and insights.
The journey of this book begun when my publisher and mentor Ivor Indyk persuaded me to focus in, by reminding me of the writing that I had always wanted to do with Tracker, and to make this book become a reality. What a waste it would have been if this time had been lost.
The Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University always gave this work enormous support, especially Anthony Uhlmann, Suzanne Gapps, and our dean, Peter Hutchings. Thank you for your kindness and generosity of spirit.
The Australia Research Council’s support made such a large project possible, and I thank you for sharing the vision of this important man’s contribution to the life of this country.
Thank you Jenni Whyte for your prompt transcriptions of hours of recordings, and for your patience to find the words caught in the wind, and other noisy background interference.
There were many, many people who helped with queries, gave correct spelling of language words, helped locate people from one end of the country to the other, and answered many other questions. Thank you for sharing your great wealth of knowledge. It is as always an honour and privilege to know you.
A special thank you to Cathryn Tilmouth for helping enormously with research work, locating information and for gathering family photos. Thank you to all the Tilmouth family, Lois Bartram, the Central Land Council, Neva Collings, Emily Hansen, Maggie Urban and Lesley Alford for contributing photos from their collections.
Holly Gallagher and Sophia Barnes, thank you for providing support for the final production of the book. And thank you to Ben Juers for the beautiful illustration of Tracker’s Akubra.
The beauty of this book is the masterful work of Ivor Indyk, Nick Tapper and Harry Williamson. Thank you.
This book would not have been possible without the generous support of Kathy, Shaneen, Cathryn, and Amanda, and the Tilmouth family’s guidance and courage. Thank you.
Thank you Toly for sharing the journey of memories and stories of our great friend. And special appreciation to my daughters Tate and Lily.
The holes in this book are the missing stories of hundreds of people who knew Tracker. You can go anywhere in this country and there will always be someone with a great story to tell about Tracker, of something he said or did. Keep sharing those stories. Embellish them. Make his stories your own story. Most of all, be the story. That is what he would have wanted.
Tracker’s story is like the country itself. Far bigger than one book, and as he would have said, We are only getting started here Wrighty.