Harland's Half Acre

adeborde4 stars

10 February 2013 at 1:04pm

I’ve loved the early works of this revered Australian writer because they show his Queensland roots for growing into a much bigger world. The first I read were “Johnno”, “12 Edmondstone St” and this one. Frank Harland’s ultimate quest is to regain the southern Queensland farming land the family lost the best way he can: through his ability to paint pictures. His paintings are of locals (in Brisbane, Southport and elsewhere in Queensland) who befriend him, and of landscapes there and further north. As Frank draws the land, so he draws himself closer to it, becoming increasingly rustic in his own life and person. As he provides for family, his own need of material goods diminishes. By the time his work is finished, and it’s time for his own body to be surrendered to the land, who will be left? Those with an artistic bent will love the connections between Frank and both people and land. (Does beauty have anything to do with art?) Those interested in reading about characters of Australian families of past decades will revel. The most vivid of Malouf’s word pictures are of the people, rather than the land. It’s not a “light” read. It’s a read that will linger and go deep. It’s like the red soil of Childers. As Edna says, “Gets into everything, that red soil…. The bottom half of the bath is always pink.” I’ll reread it, so I can continue to live with these characters, and dig deeper and ponder. Land, art, family.