Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Fremantle

  • Cellnight: A verse novel

    Cellnight: A verse novel

    John Kinsella via Cellnight, A Verse Book returns to the tumultuous past of Fremantle in Western Australia, at the time of the protest rallies against American nuclear warships coming into the Port town. Kinsella jarringly opens the pages with the arrest and bashing in custody of a protestor by the Police at a time when no one cared; no one had heard of Police brutality.

    The prose is lengthy and throughout the discourse there is beauty threaded amongst the anger and deep sadness; the beauty of the dolphins as they swim the waters of the Port into the mouth of the Swan River, the created vision of the red-tailed cockatoos as they sit in the pine trees pondering their future. Beautiful but disadvantaged; destroyed and destructive.  The beauty has within it the bitter sting of the words.

    Kinsella is well known for his environmental stand, his deep and loving concern for the environment which once again becomes very apparent as the pages turn, moving from the early days of Fremantle to modern times, each word precise, painting a picture of a past which showed little concern for the environment or the traditional people of the land.

    For anyone who grew up in Fremantle during the halcyon days of protest marches, environmental rage, and a massive change in societies standards, Cellnight will resonate, will be confrontational and will also return to a past where so very much changed far too fast in the history of Fremantle; and by association, the history of Western Australia.

    Back then nuclear warfare, logging of old forests, ending the Vietnam War, to name just a few issues of the times were considered so important, but looking down the lens of 50 something years, the modern generation have never heard of the Ports history, the deep, all-encompassing desire to protect, to save the land, for future generations. 

    Within Cellnight there is the very real truth which presents the fact that despite the furious cries of the people of the past, so little has in reality changed. The red-tailed black cockatoo no longer visits in flocks, the dolphins still come but not in great numbers and the trees are no longer along the shoreline. The history of the past, the protesting, the ill treatment of prisoners all carefully tucked away, considered of no real consequence.

    History cannot be changed, it must be accepted, to be learned from, understood and used to change the basis of modern thinking, but is it? That is the question and, within that question, are so many of the aspects of the past presented within the multi-layered Cellnight. A Verse Book.

  • Perth, updated paperback edition

    Perth, updated paperback edition

    Perth – a place that is considered the most remote capitol city in the World is a place like no other; unique, unusual and a mere dot on the map of Western Australia, a State that is the largest in Australia in land mass, not population.

    Its history is chequered, its people what could be considered as eclectic, reflecting back to the arrival of the first non-indigenous people to the coast line as peoples from many cultures arrived on the shores of Western Australia, many to settle permanently to begin creating the structure that is Perth in the modern world. In so many ways Perth now is not all that far removed from the early settlement days and yet in many others ultra-modern, down to earth, full of contradictions, ghosts, history and colourful characters.

    David Whish-Wilson a born and bred Western Australian looks forward while looking back, reminiscing on the days of his youth growing up in and around Fremantle and Perth, spending time reflecting and considering the many changes that have occurred over the past fifty years. In doing so he has created a beautifully worded tribute to Perth: an amazing place that somehow has survived the boom and bust of a State which over many years has earned its wealth initially from wheat and wool, then Mining, all industries that rely on overseas trade and demand.

     Initially released in 2013, as a part of the City Series, Whish-Wilson has added a ‘post script’, talking about the changes that have occurred in Perth since the first release and how they have reflected on a City that to some degree is still resisting being forced into conformity, as the people, the State, remain determined to ‘do it their way’.

    As a Perth-ite, who has lived away from Perth for many years reading this carefully researched and detailed capturing of the very essence of Perth, bought back many memories of growing up in Perth and Fremantle, enjoying what appeared to be endless sunshine filled days of summer, the white sands of Cottesloe, the sharp shock of plunging into the cold clear waters, the bustle of Fremantle Harbour before containerisation, the smell and essence of Kings Park and the joy of discovering WA also has bush ranger!

    Whish-Wilson has travelled back through his years growing up there and is now introducing his young family to the joy to be found on beaches, streets, parks and along the Swan River but has also allowed everyone who reads this charming collection of the life and times of Perth, to tread in his footsteps.

    If you are considering visiting Perth, an ideal choice of destination in this rather challenging time in which we all live, grab your copy and take a walk in his footsteps to discover the real gems that make Perth unique: a place with attitude, the right sort, naturally, full of flamboyant colour, inclusivity and a place that delights in being considered as idiosyncratic.