Six Peaks Speak 4

25 June 2023 Update

It’s now seven weeks since my 7 May ‘Six Peaks Speak 3’ update. This has been a very intensive and time consuming writing phase. At least one day each week has been spent at State Library Victoria researching new leads and tying up the many loose ends. Another day each week (when winter weather permits) has been spent in the field, walking on each peaks and talking to people in the local community.

My Draft Chapter Contents for the book, whose working title is Six Peaks Speak: Unsettling Changes in Southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country, is as below.

• Chapter 1 Grounding
• Chapter 2 Home Ground: Gurutjanga  / Mount Kooroocheang
• Chapter 3 Common Ground: Nyaninuk / Mount Beckworth
• Chapter 4 Grazed: Durt Burnayi / Mount Greenock
• Chapter 5 Mined: Dharrang Gauwa / Mount Tarrengower
• Chapter 6 Quarried: Leanganook / Mount Alexander
• Chapter 7 Erased: Lalkambuk / Mount Franklin
• Chapter 8 The ‘Good Country’ in Between
• Chapter 9 Reconnecting Peaks, People and Place

Chapters 1 to 5 have been completed in early Draft with a target length of 10,000 words each. My plan is to complete Drafts Chapters for the other two peaks, Mount Alexander and Mount Franklin, by 8 July (in two weeks). 

Below is the content template I am using to structure and write each peak-specific chapter. Some headings will change. 

• Setting the Scene
• Behind the Scenes
• The Peak, People and Places
  • Peak
  • People
  • Places
• Ground Up
  • Big Picture
  • Rocks 
  • Ecology
  • Community
• Unsettling
• Legacies
  • Legacy Theme 1
  • Legacy Theme 2
  • Legacy Theme 3
  • Legacy Theme 4
• Managing
• Exploring

I previously identified four possible ‘Legacy Themes’ for each of the six peaks in my ‘Six Peaks Speak 2’ post. Most of these have been adopted unchanged. Several will change as writing and editing progresses.

Clive Willman’s assistance has been invaluable in the past six weeks, including reading and critically commenting on draft chapters. Clive provided LiDAR for Mount Kooroocheang and Mount Beckworth. He has also provided a valuable and insightful, big picture, Digital Elevation Model map inclusive of all six peaks, overlain by the main geological units and the footprint of both Protectorates. 

Clive has actively participated in some of the fieldwork and is contributing his geological expertise and experience to help write up and edit the sections about the rocks for each peak. My intention, as already flagged with SLV, is for Clive to be properly acknowledged as a second author on the final book manuscript by virtue of his significant anticipated contribution.

I am taking a four week, midyear, winter break from 18 July. I plan to resume work refreshed after the break on 19 August, to start to write Chapters 8 & 9. My next update is planned for 3 September. During September 2023, I plan to have a sufficiently polished draft manuscript comprising two Chapters, with Contents and Synopsis, to approach a prospective publisher.