Writing Set in Tenterfield - and other Literary References

Abstract

One of the most potent ways of recalling earlier episodes from one's own early life and formative experiences, or, of more general past experiences in a particular place, is to read either surviving personal papers from that period, and the relevant local newspapers, or - and this is often more pleasurable - peruse a range published materials, particularly fiction or biography, concerned with that setting. They may be official papers, guidebooks, or, in many cases literary writing that has such a localised focus. in the case of Tenterfield and district, a little searching will reveal a surprisingly rich range of texts that have a firm setting in Tenterfield, with varying degrees of the historical, the social, the fictional, and the personal in their appeal. In the following survey a somewhat random collection of such sources has been scrutinised - in some sort of chronological order - for their tone and interesting facts or more subjective concepts that they may be held to contain for the curious seeker after such personal or other cultural memories and associations - from other people's Tenterfield.