Swallow the air by Tara June Winch

I was first introduced to Tara June Winch through an article about the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelists Award, printed in Spectrum, June 2-3, 2007. Tara was one of those winners.
Tara has been awarded the 2003 Queensland Young Writers Award runner up and encouragement award, the 2004 David Unaipon Award, the 2006 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous writing, the 2007 Dobbie Award for a woman’s first book and the 2007 UTS Award for New Writing in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
I followed up my interest by reading one of her stories published in ‘The Best Australian Stories 2005’, - Cloud Bursting.
The title alone was full of imagery, the story even more so and the quality of writing, for me, was an absolute joy.
‘Cloud Bursting’ was taken from the ‘novel’ ‘Swallow the Air’.
Although not a recently published book, (2006), ‘Swallow the Air’, introduces a vibrant talent into Australian literature, one, I feel strongly deserving of the awards and recognition bestowed upon her.
I was interested to read indigenous literature for the first time, to grasp her perspective on life and her interpretation of language.
Read as a novel or a collection of short stories, ‘Swallow the Air’, has the advantage of interpretation on both levels. Tara’s talent shows through in her vivid use of language and her first hand knowledge of the Aboriginal experience brought to life through settings eg Redfern and the interaction of characters in a white landscape.
From the opening sentences ‘I remember the day I found out my mother was head sick. She wore worry on her wrists as she tied the remaining piece of elastic to the base of the old ice-cream container.’ to the closing ‘An excavator starts its smothering engine over the torrent of each barrel. Over the sun. Over the blue. And I wonder, if we stand here, if we stay, if they stop digging up Aunty’s backyard, stop digging up mother’s memory, stop digging up our people, maybe then, we’ll all stop crying.’, May’s story of loss and longing is told with honesty and passion.
May Gibson, the protagonist of ‘Swallow the Air’, is 15 when her mother commits suicide and she and her brother Billy are taken in by their Aunty. They struggle to make sense of their loss, Billy’s anger at life and injustice, fuelled by alcohol and drugs flares, and he leaves May, to search in her own way for her unsure identity. May wanders the lonely path of mental solitude. Alone, she meets people who try to drag her down or draw her in but May’s strength lies in her longing to find her father, to find her people, to belong somewhere, where her life will matter. Her journey takes her from Australia’s east coast to Waterloo and Redfern’s Block, Lake Cowal and the Lachlan River in central NSW, and a mission in Eubalong.
Her physical journey is overshadowed by the people she meets and it is these people, who teach her what it is to belong, the robust, endearing and caring character of Aunty – strong, yet vulnerable, the good-natured Block resident Joyce who tells May ‘You gotta go, May, you got sumthin to find, fire in the belly that ya gotta know’, and the amiable, helpful Pete, the truckie, heading for Darwin, who gives May a lift and has compassion for her situation.
May Gibson is an endearing character, not easily forgotten. Her vulnerable portrayal as a misfit 15 year old, develops confidence and pride in her roots as she ‘thinks’ her way through the novel and Tara’s engaging use of language, describes vividly what she thinks and feels and what makes up place. I look forward to reading more of Tara’s work as she continues to explore and develop her poetic prose.
Alison.