TASMANIAS LOST VILLAGES TASMANIAN WAKE

A wonderful and fond reminiscence of a Tasmania that has mostly disappeared. Part autobiography, part history and part tall tales it is both a critical and whimsical portal into the last half of the Tasmanian twentieth century. This phase of Tasmanian history is what the author describes as the end of isolation. The revolution in travel and communication saw Tasmania transformed from an isolated island to a participant in a joined-up world. No exact date can be attached to this as it happened progressively. The narrative is largely written about a time when the island was transitioning out of isolation. This Tasmanian wake, or remembrance if you will, starts in 1948 in Strahan, the author’s hometown. In a broader sense it is a journey from Strahan to Burnie and down the spine of Tasmania, that we call the Midlands, to Hobart. Woven into the narrative are reflections of Tasmania’s West Coast, especially in more isolated times, growing up in broad acre housing in Burnie and coming to Hobart, initially to attend University, when it was a seemingly drab isolated Edwardian city, with the next station in effect being Antarctica