Life Sentience

This poetic book tells the story of David a farmer born in 1960s Australia who was expected to carry on his family's traditions on the land. We follow his life from birth to an imagined death spanning a turbulent time when small rural communities across Australia collapsed. <br>David's plans are upended in the 1990s as the country suffers deregulation of the grain markets and the onset of a devastating ten-year drought. He and farmers like him have their lives forever changed swept away by harsh economic forces and drought as family farms shut down. <br>The book captures in verse the destruction of a cherished way of life for David his neighbours and rural towns. It recounts the tragedy of dreams broken when long-held farming traditions become unsustainable. By telling one man's story it memorializes the wider loss of community and livelihood faced by farming families across Australia in recent decades.