Coalcliff House

Coalcliff House
Ken Bolton & Sal Brereton standing beside house. Photo by Kurt Brereton (1980)

Monday, March 22, 2010

final journal entries

9th August 1981 When I get to Coalcliff it's in time to help Ken re-affix the posts of the front verandah (which blew away a week ago). Ken says he & Sal have split up. We walk halfway up the mountain round the old track & then cutting up the side to a dip just before the final ascending stretch. Then walk down past the cows. I think of title for Canberra poetry book - Cows & Vikings - & Ken thinks of a good cover design. Back to the house at dusk & a hot meal & listen to records. Look at Steve K's ‘Swoon Harbour’ poem - great work. Both agree that we couldn't write like that & don't know how it's done - but I say I wd. like to have written it. I go to sleep in the living room. Strong winds sound like they'll blow the roof off.

16th October 1981 Ken rang last night - he's due to go to Adelaide for a few weeks on some kind of grant from an art institution & intends to produce pamphlets on the equipment down there. Asks for a 20 page booklet. I figure on maybe ‘Adventures in Paradise’ & ‘The Great Tradition’ (with notes) - Ken's idea, and, in addition, the fake anthology [‘The New Australian Poetry, Now’]. Looks like the A.I.P. book will have to appear in pieces [this book, the present Adventures in Paradise, appeared early 1982. Ken is still in Adelaide].

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