Once the Singing Trees - An Essay on Land
“We dig too far into the earth and the earth repays us with her horror. From our house I see the brother winds coming across the west sky like a war…”
Written as a lyrical essay on land, Once the Singing Trees tells the story of Koort-Boork-Boork, the original name for the area known as Melbourne’s Hobsons Bay on the edge of the Western Volcanic Plains, at the point of interruption by colonial invasion in 1835. As a unique small-run art book, this book is designed and illustrated by Sally drawing on early European cartography, along with typefaces and ephemeral binding of 19th century publishing.
An excerpt of Once the Singing Trees was Highly Commended by the Port Philip Citizens for Reconciliation Writing Prize in 2016 by Judges Jane Harrison (Stolen 1998, Becoming Kirrali Lewis, 2014, The Visitors, 2020) and Clare Bradford (Reading Race: Aboriginality in Australian Children’s Literature, 2001) for “writing which promotes reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians”. Printed on 100% cotton Magnani papers and produced in Melbourne on Kulin Country.
Sally’s writing has been awarded by the National Trust of Victoria, the National Alan Marshall Short Story Award Shortlist and by Short Story Prizes of local and regional writing festivals. It has also appeared twice in Australian Womankind magazine.
Limited edition run (60). Published 2016 by Morris & Company Press.
Magnani laid ivory paper with ephemeral binding.
Size: 13 cm x 19 cm. 38 pages.
“We dig too far into the earth and the earth repays us with her horror. From our house I see the brother winds coming across the west sky like a war…”
Written as a lyrical essay on land, Once the Singing Trees tells the story of Koort-Boork-Boork, the original name for the area known as Melbourne’s Hobsons Bay on the edge of the Western Volcanic Plains, at the point of interruption by colonial invasion in 1835. As a unique small-run art book, this book is designed and illustrated by Sally drawing on early European cartography, along with typefaces and ephemeral binding of 19th century publishing.
An excerpt of Once the Singing Trees was Highly Commended by the Port Philip Citizens for Reconciliation Writing Prize in 2016 by Judges Jane Harrison (Stolen 1998, Becoming Kirrali Lewis, 2014, The Visitors, 2020) and Clare Bradford (Reading Race: Aboriginality in Australian Children’s Literature, 2001) for “writing which promotes reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians”. Printed on 100% cotton Magnani papers and produced in Melbourne on Kulin Country.
Sally’s writing has been awarded by the National Trust of Victoria, the National Alan Marshall Short Story Award Shortlist and by Short Story Prizes of local and regional writing festivals. It has also appeared twice in Australian Womankind magazine.
Limited edition run (60). Published 2016 by Morris & Company Press.
Magnani laid ivory paper with ephemeral binding.
Size: 13 cm x 19 cm. 38 pages.
“We dig too far into the earth and the earth repays us with her horror. From our house I see the brother winds coming across the west sky like a war…”
Written as a lyrical essay on land, Once the Singing Trees tells the story of Koort-Boork-Boork, the original name for the area known as Melbourne’s Hobsons Bay on the edge of the Western Volcanic Plains, at the point of interruption by colonial invasion in 1835. As a unique small-run art book, this book is designed and illustrated by Sally drawing on early European cartography, along with typefaces and ephemeral binding of 19th century publishing.
An excerpt of Once the Singing Trees was Highly Commended by the Port Philip Citizens for Reconciliation Writing Prize in 2016 by Judges Jane Harrison (Stolen 1998, Becoming Kirrali Lewis, 2014, The Visitors, 2020) and Clare Bradford (Reading Race: Aboriginality in Australian Children’s Literature, 2001) for “writing which promotes reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians”. Printed on 100% cotton Magnani papers and produced in Melbourne on Kulin Country.
Sally’s writing has been awarded by the National Trust of Victoria, the National Alan Marshall Short Story Award Shortlist and by Short Story Prizes of local and regional writing festivals. It has also appeared twice in Australian Womankind magazine.
Limited edition run (60). Published 2016 by Morris & Company Press.
Magnani laid ivory paper with ephemeral binding.
Size: 13 cm x 19 cm. 38 pages.
