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Tall Poplars

Tales from Tasmania’s fabled River Derwent Valley
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Tall Poplars: Tales of Tasmania’s fabled River Derwent Valley by Tim Hurburgh presents a vivid journey from the shadowy era of Van Diemen’s Land to the scenic beauty of modern-day Tasmania. Through engaging stories of resilience, courage, enterprise, as well as moments of violence and betrayal, the book offers a rich, Technicolor portrayal of the island’s complex history. With imagery by Matt Sansom, Hurburgh’s deeply personal narrative captures the landscape and spirit of Tasmania through the eyes of a lifelong resident, architect, and poet descended from a pioneering sailing family.
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Format: Hardback
$5000
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in Tasmanian history, regional tales, and those drawn to nature and human stories intertwined with place. Also well suited to fans of reflective travel literature and historical narratives exploring Australia’s unique past.

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Tim Hurburgh’s Tall Poplars: Tales of Tasmania’s fabled River Derwent Valley provides a fascinating fresh take from the murkier days of Van Diemen’s Land through to today’s picturesque Apple Isle.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Tim Hurburgh’s Tall Poplars: Tales of Tasmania’s fabled River Derwent Valley provides a fascinating fresh take from the murkier days of Van Diemen’s Land through to today’s picturesque Apple Isle. Stories of extraordinary stoicism, heroism and entrepreneurship but, painfully also, violence and shocking betrayal.

It is a Technicolor vision with images by Matt Sansom, of Tasmania and its Van Diemen’s umbra seen through the eyes of an author who lives there. As a lifelong architect, published poet and from a sailing family who arrived in Hobart in 1826, Tim’s perspectives told with heart and humour expose the fissures and folds of the Island’s exotic terrain.

His words are replete with love, mild admonitions and episodic astonishment, sharing delight, shame and dumbfoundedness at his island home and the motley crew that rub shoulders around it.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781761450372

Publisher: Hardie Grant Media

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 01 November 2023

Country: Australia

Imprint: Hardie Grant Media

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 220.0mm

Height: 245.0mm

Weight: 1018g

Pages: 176

About the Author

Tim Hurburgh (author)

Tim grew up on the Derwent River north of Hobart, across the water from the estate that all Tasmanians know today as internationally celebrated private art museum MONA. Following a period in the United States studying architecture on a Harvard University scholarship, Tim returned to Australia. After years of successfully running two of Australia’s foremost architectural practices in Melbourne, his passion for writing evolved. Inspired by the lush undulating farmlands on which he now resides and evoking remarkable personal episodes for Tim in our unique island state, his books provide vigorous life spectres of present-day Tasmania and its shrouded past.

Over recent years, Tim has been informally mentored by renowned Tasmanian poet and writer Janet Upcher and well-known Melbourne writer and editor Jack Taylor. Both have inspired him to develop his writing and poetry voice. His first book was Disruptions: Tasmania in Poetry. This collection of short stories is his second.

Matt Sansom (photographer)

Matt Sansom is an emerging landscape and architectural photographer from Tasmania with over a decade of experience capturing images of Tasmania’s internationally renowned natural and constructed panoramas. He was born and raised in Hobart and trained as an architect. Matt graduated in 2014 with the final year prize. His interest in photography developed through bushwalking in Tasmania’s remote and towering landscapes fractured by river ravines with notable and extraordinary names: Franklin, Gordon, Meander and Serpentine.

Matt has developed an understanding of complex architectural ideas which, together with his refined observations of the island’s everchanging weather and lighting conditions, have coalesced to provide him with a unique ability to record scenes of the Tasmanian environment, interpreting the natural world through the lens of the man-made. His work has been published nationally and internationally in architectural and other publications.

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