Readers roll up for hope and heroes

Book lovers were promised a night of environmental hope and heroes at Coledale hall, and that’s what they got. 

On April 30, the heroes were Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton and environmentalist Natalie Kyriacou OAM, who appeared in conversation with Professor Tim Flannery, chief councillor at the Climate Council, 2007 Australian of the Year and author of enduring bestseller The Weather Makers. 

Hope came in Sarah and Natalie's new books, both of which celebrate nature and the people who care for it.

Sarah is a coastal scientist and academic at the University of Wollongong. Her book, Plotting the Oceans: Stories of powerful maps and their makers, has been almost 15 years in the making. “I wrote it for my students,” she said, joking it was either that or stand-up comedy to capture their attention. 

“The book is basically five stories back to back about people who've made maps that have changed our relationship with nature or our understanding of nature. 

“They are stories that I encountered whilst I was doing my research in coastal mapping and I was really inspired by them. And if there's one thing I want to do for my students, it is inspire them. 

“So it weaves together a bit of environmental doom and gloom with some inspirational good news in terms of environmental stories as a way to try and get my students out there map-making and doing good in the world.”

Natalie said the aim of her book, Nature’s Last Dance, was to explore the world’s wonders and inspire those who feel overwhelmed by the scale of the climate crisis. She also wanted to appeal to a wide audience. 

“I wanted to write a book that would be a nature book for non-nature people, for a mainstream audience,” Natalie said. “I tried to come up with beautiful, sweet, funny, tragic – a whole range of stories as hooks to delve into deeper subject matter. 

“But really it's just to get people to fall in love with nature who think that they're not in love with nature. I’m convinced that everyone's a nature activist; they just don't really know it yet."

“I interviewed a 12-year-old girl, and she is a forest protector. She made a promise to a masked owl in Tasmania, and she promised to protect it. She takes adults on tours through the forest to show them why it's worth protecting, and she's a citizen scientist for the Bob Brown Foundation. 

“I interviewed a woman who spent Christmas Eve dangling upside down from inside a stormwater drain to protect a tiny little lorikeet. She's part of one of the most under-appreciated workforces on the planet – wildlife carers and rescuers, who are more than 75 per cent women, and women over 45 years old.

"They rarely get paid for their work. They're the people who, during bushfire season, are pulling burnt bodies off tin roofs and nursing them back to health from their houses. 

"I interviewed people like that, people who are giving everything for nature.” 

Tim Flannery, who has a new book in the works covering a “history of human folly” when it comes to climate, said reading Natalie’s book reminded him of actor Isabella Rossellini, who made a TV series called Green Porno in 2008.

“It's got that same humorous but deeply understanding view of what animals do and why they do it,” he said.

This led to a discussion of why bonobos are more peaceful than chimpanzees, and what Charles Darwin missed by viewing the females of a species as inferior. “We've only, I think, to date, seen a really narrow view of of the natural world,” Natalie said.

Sarah ended the evening by thanking event organisers the South Coast Writers Centre and Collins Booksellers Thirroul, who organised drinks and a bookstall.

“This event, I realised, it's about bringing the community together,” Sarah said. “When I look across the crowd, I see mates from the school gates, soccer teammates, my book group, friends from work – and it's really the essence of community. I think that the bookshop do an amazing job in terms of bringing people together.”

A new chapter

Sarah's words were a fitting if early tribute to the two sisters who opened the doors to a welcoming, well-stocked bookstore in the Anita's Theatre building in 2018. Since then, Amanda Isler and Deborah Thompson have been busy building a literary community, stocking local authors, organising book launches and talks. 

Two weeks after the environmental heroes event, the co-owners announced they had sold Collins Thirroul to “a true bookseller” – James Tierney.

"James comes to us from two much-loved community bookstores, Bookoccino in Avalon and Gleebooks in Glebe,” the sisters wrote in a letter to subscribers. 

“He and his partner Vanessa have a long association with this area through their love of bushwalking. They bought a house together in Bulli 15 months ago, and James has been commuting to his job as manager of Gleebooks. He fell in love with our shop…”

Deb and Amanda had not planned to sell but had a gut feeling it was the right choice. “James has the passion, the desire and the experience required to maintain the integrity of the bookshop as we have tried to do.”

The new owner will be in store for informal meet and greets on three Sundays in June, taking over from July 1.