We strolled the Salamanca Saturday market that wound its way around the Hobart waterfront and fell in love with some short brown dress boots. Three pairs were left and, one by one, Jeremy, Katie and I had a go at trying them on. Too large for Jeremy; too small for Katie; almost just right for me but, when Jeremy found out that it was Charlie Murtagh who made them, that he lived ten minutes outside of town and that he would gladly custom make us some boots while we went up the coast, I, too, decided to hold off for the perfect size. But I knew we were on to a good thing because I would have fudged the size with an innersole and gone with the half size too big.
Three days later, we returned to 16 Victor Place which turns out to be Charlie’s home and workshop. Here he makes Australia’s preeminent riding boots — race boots, track boots, and dress boots — all by hand with a huge dash of pride and care. His wife told me that he had worked well in to the two nights to complete this order (“he can rest later,” she said) and there they were – perfect in every way. And the price was right at $220 a pair. I also found a pair of jockey boots that were forming on a client’s mold, and I ordered those as well to be sent along when finished at leisure.
The story of much of Australia is the story of sandstone. Arrive in Sydney and it's all around you - in buildings proud and humble, in the pavement, in its many beaches. It comes in all colors and so the buildings are red and yellow, the beaches white and black, the art - contemporary sandstone sculpture or Aboriginal ochred painting - in all of these hues.
But, while beautiful, sandstone bedrock produces insipid soil and a poor growing environment and so vegetation, wildlife and humans have had to adapt and they have done so in fascinating, and sometimes shocking, ways. A kangaroo doesn't hop but he springs, covering long distances and expending minimal energy. When, in the outback, temperatures rise above certain levels, a kangaroo will eject the joey from her pouch so that her own chances of survival increase. And if rains fail and graze is sparse, a roo can even put her pregnancy on pause until conditions improve.
Similarly, indigenous tree species cannot afford to lose their leaves to herbivores and so they defend themselves with toxins. The many species of eucalyptus emit their oil in a faint blue haze (hence the name Blue Mountains) and provide koalas, with digestive tracts adapted to processing these toxins, their diet.
And, finally, sandstone has played a crucial role in Aboriginal culture. The ancient rock art found etched into soft sandstone tells their stories and provides a map of their relationships with the sky, the land, earth's creatures and with each other. And because the sandstone is so soft, these etchings - some 20,000 years old or more - have been redrawn through time and across country and have survived.
Lesson #2: Everything natural and cultural takes its shape from the rock upon which it lies.
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