Penny van Oosterzee’s knowledge of the evolutionary history of Australia together with the story of her regeneration of her own property in the Atherton Tablelands results in a fascinating book. How do you turn paddocks back into lush tropical rainforest? With hard work, research and the love of the land. Thiaki is her 180 hectares property bought in 2005 lovingly being restored. While she knows the land can never become what it was before the loggers and farmers moved in, she has made considerable progress, because she understands the evolutionary history of her land.
Professor Oosterzee is a senior research fellow at James Cook University specialising in the integration of biodiversity and ecosystems. This is a broad ranging book with both personal stories, and scientific information about the formation of the continent. She gives special attention to the Top End including the rituals and farming practices of the indigenous people, the warring tribes of Cape York and the massacres perpetrated by the settlers.
Poking into the Torres Strait, Cape York was visited by Melanesians for thousands of years to trade, and sometimes fight, with Aborigines. This created an indigenous culture unlike any other in Australia. She writes with knowledge from thorough research and admiration for the indigenous peoples.
The book covers pre-history, social history and science. Her analysis of the social side of the Top End and her presentation of the scientific aspects are easy to read, thoroughly interesting and steeped in her love of Australia’s unique evolution.
Her other books might also appeal to anyone who loves Australian natural history. ‘’A Natural History and Field Guide to Australia’s Top End’ (2014),’The Story of Peking Man: the search for the roots of humanity set against the Chinese civil war’ (1999), ‘The Wallace Line: The First definitive book on the biogeography’ (1998), ‘A field guide to Central Australia’, and ‘The Natural History of Australia’s Desert Regions’ (1991).
Cloud Land, Published by Allen&Unwin, 2023
ISBN: 978 1 76106 840 9
Paperback $28
