Returning to Nothing : The Meaning of Lost Places

This book charts the relationship between Australians and places of significance. Read examines peoples' attachment to houses, workplaces, communities and countries through interviews with numerous individuals who have lost these places or found them transformed. This is a bold and moving work of scholarship.

Feelings about lost or destroyed places rouse our deepest emotions. Losing a home or a suburb or leaving a homeland can be like losing a loved one. This book examines what it means to lose a place forever and why we return, and keep on returning, to these places so large in our memories. It considers many lost towns, suburbs, and homes: Darwin after Cyclone Tracy, the flooding of the town of Adaminaby in New South Wales, the inundation of Lake Pedder in Tasmania, bushfire at Macedon in Victoria, migration from other countries, the clearing of neighbourhoods for freeways and the everyday circumstances which force people from their land. Peter Read establishes how important the places we live in are, and how much we grieve when we lose them. It tells a human story, which is disturbing, poetic, and often inspiring. Everyone who has lost a place of importance to them will find it unforgettable.