Music archive entry

If ever there is a view that would inspire me to take up water-colours it is that view, a few minutes walk from my home, of a mountain range that meets the sea at a long windswept beach by the Rubicon estuary. Some days are blue: sunny but cool; other days are silvery grey: overcast and with a shimmering sea; some days are misty white, some are stormy grey/brown; others are multicoloured: hot and hazy, green, brown, blue and bright.

The area is one of Tasmania's prized National Parks. Geographical features that were known in my childhood as Bakers Beach, the Asbestos Ranges, West Head, Badger Head and Badger Ranges are included in the area now named in the ancient language of the first inhabitants: The Narawntapu National Park. With a diverse history of mining, farming and fishing, there is a wide variety of environments including huge sand dunes, swamp forests and dry sclerophyll forests, coastal heathlands, rehabilitated pasture, both active and reclaimed wetlands, abundant and varied animal and bird life, including six out of the ten varieties of Tasmania frogs .

This work, originally for string quartet, describes two evenings at Spinglawn: a large area frequented by wildlife and from where many of the majestic views can be enjoyed.

Day 1 is calm, and clear and allows an experience of the vast and varied local beauty by starlight.

Day 2 is unsettled, with a light sprinkling rain and restless wind that eventually eases, allowing the possums, wombats, wallabies, native hen and other wildlife to emerge and join the frogs. The skies clear to reveal an array of stars enjoyed only in Australia's wild places before the moon rises to illuminate the landscape.