Art and life collide as Marta Dusseldorp hits Tasmania’s back roads
Walking through the Gondwana rainforest of Takayna, the expanse of pristine wilderness in north-western Tasmania known as “the Tarkine”, and meeting unconventional locals, Marta Dusseldorp could be mistaken for her Bay of Fires alter ego, Stella Heikkinen.
But this is not a scene from the second season of that ABC thriller, now in production in this very region. Instead, Dusseldorp is appearing on Heather Ewart’s road trip series Back Roads.
Marta Dusseldorp at Trowutta Arch in Tasmania’s takayna / Tarkine for Back Roads.
“I think it’s important, if someone asks for you, that you turn up,” Dusseldorp says. “Back Roads asked for Marta, and I brought her with me, and tried to be as authentically myself as possible. In Back Roads, the only way it works is if the person who’s hosting is as genuine as the people they’re talking to.”
In her first presenting role, arranged by Back Roads regular Lisa Millar, following a Bay of Fires publicity interview, the Sydney-raised Dusseldorp discovered a magical part of her adopted home state. She moved to Hobart in 2018 with her husband, actor Ben Winspear, and their two daughters, where the couple set up stage and screen company Archipelago Productions.
“I’d never seen [Takayna] and it’s always been a passion of mine to get there,” she says. “Going to Trowutta Arch was transformative, seeing that natural wonder sitting there, just off a freeway. I thought it’s interesting how industry and tourism intersect with these natural miracles. I felt as enriched standing on a cliff edge [in Preminghana/Mount Cameron]. It was blowing a gale, and it felt like it was blowing through me and welcoming me in a deeply spiritual way. That was an incredible privilege, to be taken onto Palawa land.”
The episode, which features an entire region, rather than a single town, touches diplomatically on the locally contentious issue of logging.
Postie Jocelyn Flint (left) with Johnny her horse and Back Roads guest host Marta Dusseldorp.
“It’s an old industry that needs to be given space in Tasmania,” says Dusseldorp. “It has a purpose in some ways, in some areas. And in others, it doesn’t any more. Change takes time, and all sides need to be at the table. Like with any movement that is controversial, everyone needs to be listened to and acknowledged. And from the learnings that we’ve gathered over the years, we obviously need to protect the environment at all costs.
“That is a conversation way beyond my expertise, but I know that Tasmanians are passionate about Tasmania. So for them, wherever you are on the scale of what’s right and wrong, there is so much heart and history in this place, and everyone needs to work together for the environment.”
Joining postie and former cattle drover Jocelyn Flint on her rounds, not only to deliver mail, but also run errands and check on residents in need and later, admiring forest fungi with retired zoologist Dr Helen Robertson and retired obstetrician-gynaecologist Dr Pat Harrisson, Dusseldorp recognised some of the qualities of the Bay of Fires characters.
“Definitely the richness and the connection to landscape is absolutely parallel to the people that I met,” she says. “They take care of each other. They know everyone and everything that’s going on, and there’s a great passion for nature. To me, their nurture of the nature is the thing that makes them so unique because they are fixated with this glorious world heritage area.”
Dusseldorp’s fungi adventures even fed into the continuing storyline of Bay of Fires, and pre-empted the deadly mushroom lunch in Leongatha.
“We had already plotted that storyline when the famous case in Victoria happened,” says Dusseldorp. “I did use some of the research from Back Roads to detail further what happens in season two of Bay of Fires. It’s amazing when life and art collide.”
The prehistoric beauty of the Tarkine now imprinted on her soul, Dusseldorp encourages everyone to experience it for themselves. “You really do feel, in certain parts, that you’re the only person who’s ever walked there. It’s quite amazing. It lifts your spirits.”
Back Roads is on Tuesday, August 27, at 8pm on the ABC.
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