Summary:

Swamp Fever is the fascinating tale of one man's life as an
alternative lifestyler in Golden Bay, northwest of Nelson. As a
nineteen-year-old, Gerard Hindmarsh quit his public servant job as a
cartographic cadet for the Department of Lands and Survey and bought
a block of scrub-covered, swampy land at Tukurua near Collingwood.
Gerard was part of the homesteading movement of the 1970s, embracing
the hippy ideals of getting back to the land to live a more
self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle. Much of his land was
swamp, initially ear-marked for draining, but, after fortuitously
discovering its vibrant ecology, Gerard fell in love with not only
his swamp, but swamps in general. His wetland, with its birds, fish,
and plants, becomes a metaphor throughout the book of Gerard's
growing connection with the land, and he compares the diverse and
thriving community in his swamp with the changing community in Golden
Bay. Here the conservative farming establishment was forced to face
and accept change in the community as alternative lifestylers, whose
values were at odds with their own, made a big impact on their
comfortable existence. Swamp Fever is the memoir of not just one man,
but of a time in New Zealand's recent history not yet
well-documented. It captures a changing society at a time when
conventional attitudes towards land and nature, community and family,
personal relationships and authority were being challenged. Gerard
Hindmarsh is a natural storyteller and he has written a book that is
not only insightful and revealing, but hugely entertaining.

Book Details:

Physical Description: 193 pages
Edition Info: Paperback; 2006-01-01

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•	Biographies & Memoirs -- Memoirs (16328)
•	Politics & Social Sciences -- Social Sciences (15014)

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