From the Editor
WHEN I think about what makes Australia truly special, it pretty much comes down to water. The mighty waves that crash onto our beaches. The gentle, sparkling harbours. And the underwater spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef or Ningaloo.
Where do you go to feel Australian to your very core? I travel back to the beach of my childhood, Palm Beach on the Gold Coast. I dive under the water and I’m
10 years old again, choking on salt water after being defeated by a wave I thought I could conquer. I walk along the stretch of white sand and I’m 16, writing poetry in my head, carried away by the raw beauty of the ocean at my side.
My grandmother, Eileen Meikle, would tell me I’ve got it all wrong. She’s turning 100 this month and despite having lived on the coast for the past 80 years, she still considers herself a “bushie”.
Her spirits have always soared when she’s journeyed into Australia’s heart, where the only water is found in crystal-clear springs. A place where she can hear herself think, smell the eucalyptus trees and let the red earth run through her fingers.
She’s never been overseas but she’s scoured every inch of this country. She and my grandfather used to pack up their lives and go bush for a month or two at a time, revelling in the freedom of “Where to today?”
The other day, I asked her to nominate her favourite place in Australia. She didn’t hesitate. “Oh, Uluru,” she said. “They called it Ayers Rock back then. The first time I saw it, there was nothing around it, nowhere to stay. It was just there – this giant, wonderful rock.”
I’m taking her great-grandchildren to Uluru this year. I want to see their faces as they witness the rock’s changing colours; I want them to be awed by its enormity as we walk around it. And I want them to hear from this land’s First Peoples about the spirituality that makes it so extraordinary.
Not a lot of water around Uluru. But the spirit of Australia? It’s in the air, in the earth and in the people.
I hope you enjoy the issue, which we have dedicated to this amazing country.