Nestled between Albany and Denmark in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, Eungedup is brimming with vibrant life, yet also threatened by developers. Drawn to this biodiverse wonderland, Watson’s immersion in the wetlands mirrors his own path to healing. His diary entries through the hot Noongar seasons of Kambarang, Birak and Bunuru record teeming life as the wetlands await seasonal renewal and the coming of rain.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
‘This work contains an intimate and urgent message: that we need places like Eungedup to continue to be – we need them as much they need our protection.’ Nandi Chinna
‘Both a luminous testament to the healing power of place and a homage to the fragile beauty of a cherished landscape.’ Gail Simmons
‘From caterpillars to kookaburras, reed warblers, frogs, bitterns and tiger snakes, Watson’s intimate evocation of the complexity of one patchwork habitat, his wet, reedy heartland, is a devotional love song to place. Here is a proper ecologist-nature writer embodying the enduring, unbreakable and ferocious attachment we have to the earth’s visceral, complex being. Its thoughtful, tender prose and poems reach deep into the soul. This delightful, affecting book raises the vital importance of the unseen, undervalued yet vibrant places that are the planet’s blood.’ Miriam Darlington




