Rod Giblett came to live by Forrestdale Lake in southwestern Australia in 1986. Based in part on a nature journal he kept for several years, Black Swan Lake traces the life of the plants and animals of the surrounding area through the seasons. Presenting a wetlands calendar that charts the yearly cycle of the rising, falling, and drying waters of this internationally significant wetland, this book is a modern-day Walden. The first book to provide a cultural and natural history of this place—taking into account the indigenous people’s concept of the seasons (six instead of four)—Black Swan Lake will be enjoyed by conservationists, as well as others seeking connection with place, plants, and animals in their own bioregion.
195 pages | 35 halftones | 7 x 9 | © 2013
Cultural Studies of Natures, Landscapes and Environments
Biological Sciences: Natural History
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Part I: Wetlands calendar
1. For a few years
2. Rising waters (August/Djilba/late winter)
3. Other place (September/Djilba/early spring)
4. Other life (October/Kambarang/mid-spring)
5. Wetland world (November/Kambarang/late spring)
6. Drying up (December/Birak/early summer)
7. Dry as a rule (January–February/Birk–Bunuru/mid-, late summer)
8. Still water (March/Bunuru/early autumn)
9. Big puddle (April/Djeran/mid-autumn)
10. Water’s back (June/Makuru/early winter)
11. Birds are back (July/Makuru/mid-winter)
Part II: The downflow
12. The ballad of black swan lake: Homage to Henry David James
13. The black swan: Homage to hoax writers
14. The blackness of the black swan: Homage to Herman Melville
15. Black swamp city: Homage to Hugh Webb
16. The body of the earth and the body of Australia: Homage to the human body
17. The way of water: Homage to Master Moy Lin-Shin
18. The seasons: homage to Henry David Thoreau
19. The black arts of sublime technologies: Homage to Henry Adams
20. People and the place of the whistling kite: Homage to Haliastur sphenurus
21. Living black waters: Homage to horrifying marsh monsters
22. Living with the earth: Homage to home-habitat
1. For a few years
2. Rising waters (August/Djilba/late winter)
3. Other place (September/Djilba/early spring)
4. Other life (October/Kambarang/mid-spring)
5. Wetland world (November/Kambarang/late spring)
6. Drying up (December/Birak/early summer)
7. Dry as a rule (January–February/Birk–Bunuru/mid-, late summer)
8. Still water (March/Bunuru/early autumn)
9. Big puddle (April/Djeran/mid-autumn)
10. Water’s back (June/Makuru/early winter)
11. Birds are back (July/Makuru/mid-winter)
Part II: The downflow
12. The ballad of black swan lake: Homage to Henry David James
13. The black swan: Homage to hoax writers
14. The blackness of the black swan: Homage to Herman Melville
15. Black swamp city: Homage to Hugh Webb
16. The body of the earth and the body of Australia: Homage to the human body
17. The way of water: Homage to Master Moy Lin-Shin
18. The seasons: homage to Henry David Thoreau
19. The black arts of sublime technologies: Homage to Henry Adams
20. People and the place of the whistling kite: Homage to Haliastur sphenurus
21. Living black waters: Homage to horrifying marsh monsters
22. Living with the earth: Homage to home-habitat
Further Reading