Overview
What is it like in Australia's high country? Matthew Higgins traces the mountain experience in a rich variety of ways. First, he talks of his own times in the alps as a bushwalker, cross-country skier, historian and oral-history interviewer. Then Matthew profiles a range of people who have worked, lived, or played in the mountains: stockmen; skiers; Indigenous parks officers; rangers; brumby runners (brumby is the word for the wild horses found on the Australian Alps); foresters; authors; tourism operators; and others. Central themes of place, people and story are interwoven with concerns about environmental impact and climate change. An extensive collection of beautiful images helps to tell this magnificent mountain story, from Kosciuszko to Kiandra, Brindabella to Bimberi, and Bogong to Tidbinbilla and beyond. Matthew Higgins has been walking, skiing and researching the Australian high country for decades. He has worked at leading national cultural institutions in Canberra and written numbers of books and numerous articles, while regularly speaking about Australia's Alps to a range of audiences. [Subject: Sociology, Environmental Studies]