Coal Creek by Alex Miller

Alex Miller migrated to Australia when he was only 16 and his first job was as a ringer in outback Queensland. That early experience in the Australian outback informs a number of his works, including Coal Creek, set in the fictional community of Mount Hay. Situated inland from a larger coastal town, this is the type of place people leave to go to the coast. Miller’s formative years also helped him develop an affinity for Aboriginal people and establish lifelong friendships and understanding. It is this, too, that enables him to write so movingly and convincingly about people and landscape around Mount Hay.

The narrator, Bobby Blue, is a stockman who’s worked mustering with his father since his early teens. When his father dies he takes a job with the new constable as his offsider. Daniel Collins, a war veteran from the coast, and his wife Esme with their two children, Irie and Miriam, have come to Mount Hay to make a difference. Neither Collins nor Esme know anything of the bush and their belief that it can be tamed, or understood, is misguided. They treat young Bobby well, with Esme taking the man under her wing and encouraging 12-year-old Irie to help him learn to read. Irie is unlike anyone Bobby Blue has met before, wilful and strong but also in tune with the bush. Bobby’s childhood friend, Ben Tobin, is wild and unpredictable but a great bushman, setting up camp at Coal Creek with a young Aboriginal woman. When Bobby takes the job with Collins it does cross his mind that one day this rigid man might clash with Ben’s free spirit, and as a result he might be faced with a difficult choice. They do, and in ways most unexpected.

Miller constructs great tension in his books without ever feeling predictable. This novel builds to a sobering denouement that is also surprisingly optimistic. The voice of Bobby Blue is remarkably executed and shows Miller’s exceptional craft. Coal Creek is a great achievement. Each one of Miller’s is my new favourite, but this is very special.


Mark Rubbo