Thank you Uncle Bob Anderson for the generous sharing of your wisdom, history and language. It is always an honour and a privilege to sit and yarn with you. And a big thank you to Cathy Boyle for your wise guidance, answering of endless emails and helping to co-ordinate meetings. I feel blessed to have you both in my life.
Thank you to Varuna, the National Writer’s House for granting a Litlink residency which allowed valuable time and space to develop the manuscript and facilitated a mentorship with the insightful Kim Swivel. Thank you Kim for your continued friendship, generosity and advice.
Thank you to the wonderful team of remarkable women at MidnightSun, my publisher Anna Solding, editor Lauren Butterworth, publicist Brooke Lloyd and Kim Lock for the fabulous cover. A special thank you to Lynette Washington who plucked my manuscript out of the slush pile.
Thank you Jenny Darling for your reader’s reports. They were invaluable in the development of the manuscript. I will always be grateful for your interest in my work.
Thank you to my favourite entomologist Stephen Dogget for educating me on the mosquito and tolerating my poetic license.
Thank you David Paxton (Coochiemudlo’s Stan), Kathy Gibson and Caitlin MacRae for all things veterinary.
Thank you to all my manuscript readers, each one of you helped to improve the work in different ways – Desmond Kelly, Trish Cation, Joye Spink, Jo Kaspari, Phil Halpin, Amanda Kane, Rozulmo Dedovic and Georgie McClean. ˇ
Thank you Elisabeth Gondwe from the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum for your support and insight into the history of the treatment of the original inhabitants of Quandamooka.
Thank you Elaine and Patrick Barron for your Irish expertise. A special thank you to Craig MacPherson for sharing your personal knowledge and experience with me.
Thank you Margarite Lack for taking the time to walk through the coastal scrub with me to check names and behaviour of all the Quandamooka flora mentioned in the book. Any mistakes are mine.
Thank you Nunka Wulew Nunukel and Petrina Walker for generously allowing the use of your grandmother’s precious words.
Thank you Gevan Cole for your beautiful music inspired by the book, and thank you to the talented Renee Judd for building such a kick arse website to promote the book.
Thank you to my dear network of family and friends for your unfailing belief in my ability, particularly those in the island communities I have known over the years – Coochie, Macleay and Straddie. Please see this book as a gift of love to you and the islands you inhabit. And apologies to all the wonderful ferry and bargemen, the gatekeepers who work the boats of the Moreton Bay islands. I have never heard any of you be sexist like the boat boys depicted in the novel, but hey… that’s why it’s called fiction.
Thank you, Garth Cameron, for filling my childhood with wild imaginings – it was you who taught me how to tell stories – and thank you, Judy Cameron, for instilling in me such a strong work ethic. I wouldn’t be writing novels if it wasn’t for the example of discipline you ingrained in me.
Thank you to the bright stars in my life, Bodhi and Lily, for tolerating a mum who ‘is always writing’, and a big thank you to Lily for your wonderful book trailer.
Lastly, thank you to my first reader and love, Loomis Hayes. I remember you when we met, too many years ago now, always with a flute in your pocket, ready to whip out a quick tune and place me under a spell. I am so grateful for all that you do. This book would still be an idea whispering to me on the wind without your constant, unassuming support.
About the Author
Photo: Una Davis
Originally an actress, debut novelist D.M. Cameron is an AWGIE nominated radio dramatist, award-winning playwright and celebrated short film writer. She received funding to begin work on her first novel and was then selected for a Varuna Litlink residency to further develop this initial draft into what became Beneath the Mother Tree.
www.dmcameron.com
MidnightSun Publishing
We are a small, independent publisher based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since publishing our first novel, Anna Solding’s The Hum of Concrete in 2012, MidnightSun has gone from strength to strength.
We create books that are beautifully produced, unusual, sexy, funny and poignant. Books that challenge, excite, enrage and overwhelm. When readers tell us they have lost themselves in our stories, we rejoice in a job well done.
MidnightSun Publishing aims to reach new readers every year by consistently publishing excellent books. Welcome to the family!
midnightsunpublishing.com
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