The Bell of Blackwood Gorge

The Bell of Blackwood Gorge In the winter of 1958, the Tasmanian timber town of Blackwood sat between a dark wall of mountain and a river that never seemed to sleep. There were thirty-seven houses, a weatherboard pub, a sawmill, a tin-roofed school and a football oval that became a bog each winter. At six every morning the mill whistle woke the valley, and at six every evening the men came home smelling of wet bark, diesel and woodsmoke. People trusted hard work, strong tea and neighbours who arrived before being asked. They did not trust the mountain.