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Blogs by Barbara Hartmann King
The Oasis in the Heart of Queensland 3/19/2012 4:50:54 PM
A magical place where grass trees stud the slopes ringed by huge sandstone escarpments; and scattered bottle trees mark the plains.
My series of Outback dramas are set on the Central Highlands where the Carnarvon Gorge is an oasis in the arid heart of Queensland,where grass trees stud the slopes ringed by huge sandstone escarpments; and scattered bottle trees mark the plains. Aboriginal rock art adorns the walls of caves and overhangs. It is one of the most revered spots for the Dreaming and aboriginal art - a secret, mystical place of ancient folklore where the tribes one gathered.
The thousands of acres of cattle country surrounding the Carnarvon Gorge area in Queensland, Australia was the perfect setting for the three fictional Cattle Stations in the novels, for the mystical Secret Gorge with the magical Wedge-tailed eagle in the second novel, and the magnificent homestead featured in the third novel.
Descriptive detail is a wonderful task in such a wonderful part of the country where the the ancestors stories are encrypted in every available and viable space in this ancient place of Dreaming. I was inspired to begin each chapter of The Tan People, the third novel, with a small poem.
Chapter 13.
An ancient placefor spirits in an ancient land
Many thousandyears a stone-age place of man
Where constant throbbing rhythms of dancing feet
Herald ceaseless chanting voices to a pounding beat Where magic of the Dreaming - is all about believing.
