Scott, who has previously written books about his kayaking journeys down the Hunter River and around Sydney Harbour, said he wrote The Lake: exploring a splendid sheet of water to shine some light on “a stunning Australian jewel”.
Scott has a long connection with Wangi Wangi, and six years back wrote a biography of Archibald Prize-winning painter and former Wangi resident, Sir William Dobell.
There’s something about Dobell in The Lake, with the famous artist part of the local story, alongside fishermen, environmentalists, boatbuilders, historians and adventurers, and many other lake characters.
In his kayak, Scott takes us on a journey right around the 174-kilometre shoreline of Lake Macquarie. We travel in and out of its dozens of bays and villages, around its islands and up its creeks. He even joins a pair of intrepid paddlers to kayak through a pipe into a ‘sunken forest’.
And there’s a trip around the ancient fossil remains of a prehistoric forest at Fennell Bay.
Along the shores of Carey Bay, we read tales of the private zoo that once existed there. It’s hard to imagine that the roar of lions could once be heard across the water.
In Scott’s book we learn much about the lake’s history, diving into events that have shaped not just this place, but also the region.
Scott is taken by a long-time Coal Point local to the site of the entrance to the lake’s first coal mine, Ebenezer Colliery. Its owner, the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld, made a name for himself by taking on the coal monopoly held in NSW at the time by the Australian Agricultural Company.
Threlkeld also made a significant mark in Australian Indigenous archives. Having created a mission to work with the Aboriginal people, Threlkeld wrote books with an Awabakal leader to document the local language.
The Lake also looks at the challenges the lake faces as it flows into the future, including the very current issue of the Toronto foreshore, making references to earlier debates that raged when local waterfront land was first sold in the late 1800s. Scott was familiar with this private-versus-public issue, as he also wrote about foreshore alienation in his previous title The Harbour.
Scott’s book invites us all to think about the many facets of Lake Macquarie, and to remember that it is still worthy of the observation of one 19th century visitor who called our lake “a splendid sheet of water”.
The Lake: exploring a splendid sheet of water ($35) is available in a limited release first edition through Scott’s local book talk events, when they are able to resume. Also, they can be purchased through noshushpress.com with shipping options that include free local doorstep delivery. The online shop link is my-site-100531-106673.square.site
To include an author signing and/or personalised inscription, send details to noshushpress@gmail.com.
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