On the Dale
compiled by Anne Fisher
ISBN 978-0-85905-335-8, (2010), illustrated, 224pp, 380grams
$30.00 + POST
Running east off the back of the Darling Range, the Dale is the small river that, since the mid-nineteenth century, has sustained generations of the farming community dwelling in its broad and productive valley.
In celebrating the centenary of their lovely old stone hall, built in 1904, the people of the Dale (100 km SE of Perth) decided to gather and place on record their stories, photographs and memories – their history and their heritage.
This expression of a small community’s collective memory provides a unique insight into the social and working life of old-time Australian rural life – a world that is, regrettably, passing into history.
Often imbued with laconic humour, the stories range across such memorable moments as the night a lightning flash revealed all to Fred Flint to the day the wheel came off the school bus.
Although the focus of this book is deeply local, the intimate depiction of a community working and living together over time has universal and lasting appeal.