George Main - Heartland: The Regeneration of Rural Place

George Main,

Heartland: The Regeneration of Rural Place

Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005

Pp. ix + 286                 Paperback        ISBN 0 86840 873 5       $39.95

George Main returned to the Cootamundra district after twenty years absence at school and university. This is the story, part academic, part personal  and sometimes very personal indeed  of his rediscovery of the landscape and people, including its almost-forgotten Aboriginal inhabitants. The author, who is a curator at the National Museum of Australia, believes that the cities must reach out to understand and care for rural Australia. Although hard to classify, it is a book that should be read by anyone engaged in trying to comprehend locality.