Writing through the memories

Literary editor Caroline Overington on a mother’s tribute to her son, the Sydney Writers Festival, and who is Australia’s busiest writer?

Ford Guthrie was a such a cheeky kid – and he was becoming such a fine young man.

Ford Guthrie was just 17 years old when he died in a car accident on a red-dirt road, just a few kilometres from his family property in western Victoria. It was Australia Day 2016.  

He is missed, monumentally, by his family, and the whole community near the foot of the Grampians, where he lived.

He was a such a cheeky kid – and he was becoming such a fine young man.

Just the year before he died, Ford was captain of his AFL team, having won the best and fairest award the previous season. He was about to enter Year 12 at Ballarat Grammar, where he was to be captain of Wigan house.

He had also decided to commit himself to the land, pledging to learn all he could about agriculture, so he could confidently take over management of the property known as Thermopylae.

He was teaching himself to cook, too, having proudly mastered the pavlova, and a ginger salmon recipe, which the whole family had loved.

Ford Guthrie was a beautiful boy, on the verge of becoming a fine young man.

Ford was a passenger in a car being driven by his sister, Pollyanna, who was just 19, when he died. She was driving him from the farm to the train station when she came around a bend, lost control, and hit a tree.

Polly wasn’t sure how she was going to get on in life without her brother. He was one of her favourite people in the world.

She wasn’t sure how she was going to tell her Mum and Dad.

Accidents happen. We know that. But oh, how cruel life can be.

One thousand people attended Ford’s memorial service, which was held at Thermopylae, outside Moyston in western Victoria.

I know that part of the world. Moyston was once home of the World Rabbit Skinning Championships, and one of my forebears, Eddie Overington, was famous for being able to strip a rabbit of its skin in less than six seconds.

I always feel at home there.

It’s so still.

One of my former colleagues, Martin Flanagan, attended Ford’s memorial, and wrote about it for The Age, remarking upon “the incredible beauty of the setting – air intensely blue but not too hot, tranquil paddocks dotted with sheep and ancient gums ... This was the land Ford came from and belonged to so implicitly.”

He’d met Ford’s parents in unusual circumstances in 2006.

“A fire had just roared out of the Grampians and razed their property,” he said. “I hesitantly entered their house and was met by a man with a George Clooney smile. Hearing my name, he cried, ‘Martin Flanagan! I love your footy writing’, and took me to meet an old sheepdog called Billy Brownless.”

Tom Guthrie – Ford’s dad – had just shifted 1000 sheep out of the path of the fire.

Besides being a farmer, he’s a writer.

The Longest Drive by Tom Guthrie tells the story of Thomas Guthrie’s decision to drive 11,000 sheep from western Victoria to the Northern Territory.

His book, The Longest Drive, is a family history. One of his ancestors, Thomas Guthrie, once drove 11,000 sheep from his property near Donald, in western Victoria, to Avon Downs in the Northern Territory. The journey took 16 months, across 3500km of flowing rivers and drought plains.

And if you’re wondering about Ford’s name, well, his full name was Thomas Rutherford Guthrie; Rutherford being the maiden name of Thomas Guthrie’s Scottish wife.

Ford’s mum, Sarah Guthrie, is also a writer.

Her book is about her son. It’s called Picking Up The Pieces ... Remembering Ford.

Polly did the illustrations on the cover for her. They worked on that together. To this day, Polly carries with her a nugget of the ginger left from the salmon dish her brother had so proudly made for his family, just a few nights before he died.

Picking Up The Pieces ... Remembering Ford by Sarah Guthrie, with illustrations by Ford’s sister, Pollyanna.

Sarah says she hopes her book has “warmth, honesty and purpose”.

“In my daily life, I find that having things to look forward to has helped,” she says.

“It doesn’t have to be a big event: something like meeting a friend for a cup of tea, finally getting the saddles cleaned, or dropping a cake to a neighbour. I consider myself to be fortunate to have a busy and, at times, overfull diary ... this has kept me going, spurred me on. I have found that I seek more meaning from experiences I engage in.

“Through the publication of this book, I have met and shared so many conversations with people from all walks of life, who have heavy hearts and sadness in their lives. I hope my book will bring comfort and understanding to parents who have faced the loss of their child.”

Here’s a snippet:

“You have lovely young hands Ford, a bit calloused from farm work, quick hands for football, steady hands for shooting. I miss holding your hand.”

Ford’s family today runs Grampians Estate, a premier boutique winery. The first vines were planted in 1989. Their passion has resulted in 78 trophies for their wines since 2002.

Young Ford?

He was so proud to have the Rutherford Sparkling Shiraz named after him.

If you are visiting western Victoria, you can visit them at the cellar door.

If you are attending the Outback Writers Festival in Winton, Queensland, in June, you’ll be able to meet Tom and Sarah.

It would be a real honour to say hello to them, wouldn’t it? What a beautiful family. Grace, personified. Bookings online.

■ ■ ■

Meanwhile, the Sydney Writers’ Festival 2024 program launched last week. The theme is “Take Me Away” and it will run from Monday May 20 to Sunday May 26.

They have 35 international guests, and a grand total of 223 free and ticketed events at Carriageworks, Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall, The State Library of NSW and venues across Greater Sydney.

Myself, I don’t think they ever recovered from losing their place on the wharf.

Programming has been timid, too.

In any case, this year’s “headliners” include some lovely novelists: Bonnie Garmus (Lessons in Chemistry), Ann Patchett (Tom Lake), Michael Connelly (Resurrection Walk), and Celeste Ng (Our Missing Hearts). The 2023 Booker Prize recipient Paul Lynch (Prophet Song), will attend, as will the man he nosed out, 2023 Booker Prize shortlistee Paul Murray (The Bee Sting).

They’ve also got a Nobel Prize winning scientist Jennifer Doudna (A Crack In Creation: The New Power To Control Evolution) appearing at the Sydney Opera House.

There’s Melissa Lucashenko (Edenglassie) and Anna Funder (Wifedom), Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan (Question 7) and Bryan Brown (The Drowning) interviewed by Sam Neill.

And Trent Dalton (Lola In The Mirror), Julia Baird (Bright Shining) and Holly Ringland (The House That Joy Built).

Opening the Festival is novelist Ann Patchett in conversation with Annabel Crabb.

Wiradjuri poet, artist and Sydney Writers’ Festival guest curator Jazz Money (How To Weave a Basket) joins them for a poetry performance on May 22.

■ ■ ■

Author Shankari Chandran may well be Australia’s busiest writer (AAP IMAGE / Troy Snook)

Australia’s busiest writer? I can’t say for certain, but possibly Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran, who was in these pages just a few weeks back, helping raise money for Room To Read, an organisation that champions education for women and girls.

By chance, they are having their Gala at Sydney Modern on May 31. Atlassian’s Mike Cannon Brookes recently stepped up to be chairman of the global board. He’s passionate about it, and has helped raised millions to get kids in poor countries reading.

There will be a DJ too, so you can have a little bop along.

Meanwhile, Shankari has not one but two books out: Safe Haven (Ultimo Press) is a print book about displacement, refuge, safety and love, and she’s also busy promoting Unfinished Business, which is an Audible Original.

It’s set in Sri Lanka, towards the end of the civil war. In the capital, Colombo, journalist Ameena Fernando has been murdered, execution-style, on a busy street near her home.

I was asked to read the script, and I can tell you it’s a first-class espionage thriller, just wonderful.

If all that were not enough, she’s scheduled to speak at the Dymocks literary lunch at the fancy Four Seasons in Sydney on Monday, May 6. Tickets online.

Go you good thing!

If that were my schedule, I’d need a nap.

■ ■ ■

The Human Condition by Tony Grey

Speaking of the Sydney Modern, the actor John Bell will be launching a book there at 5pm on March 27.

Tony Grey has put together a compilation of thoughts and ideas by Aristotle, Cicero, Herodotus, Sophocles, Alexander the Great, Christopher Columbus, Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin, Victor Hugo, naturalist Charles Darwin, scientist Albert Einstein, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, and more.

There is a chapter devoted to Shakespeare … hence John Bell. Tony was a Shakespearean actor in his youth, before becoming a lawyer, then a miner for a while, before founding Pancontinental Mining (which discovered arguably the world’s richest uranium deposit, Jabiluka, in the Northern Territory). He’s retired now, and devotes most of his time to writing.

■ ■ ■

Today’s pages: Paul Monk examines a new book about China’s Covid mismanagement. We are getting closer to the truth, aren’t we? My old colleague, Alan Attwood, has written a book about Houdini, who is probably my favourite shape-shifter. Houdini flew a plane at Diggers Rest, and he survived a leap into the Yarra. Alan’s written a piece about how the story got hold of him, and wouldn’t let go.

If that were not enough – with books, it’s never enough! – we have Bruce Pascoe, of Dark Emu fame, writing about a year spent on his beloved property at Mallacoota, in Victoria. He has some ideas about how to solve Indigenous disadvantage. I’m sure you’ll find that piece interesting. You can always reach me at [e-mail] and on Instagram at @overingtonc