12 Edmonston Street
12 Edmonston Street, by Australian author David Malouf takes us on a graphic tour of his childhood home. Spend a moment or two listing some of your former addresses.
For example, key addresses that spring to my mind are 7 Sale Road, 46 Mary Street, 4 Thompson Street. Here at Soul Food you can read about Carnforth, my current home.
In your journal take the time to sketch the floor plan of one of these places. When I began sketching 7 Sale Road, a childhood home, I included the whole yard. As I sketched I popped in interesting details such as the chook pen, the spot where I climbed through the fence to enter my cubby house, the fruit trees that flourished down the side, the garden bed where Mum grew gladioli, the lemon tree where Dad hung the beheaded chooks, the outdoor toilet down behind the garage. Then I sketched the floor plan and even drew in furniture.
Memories came steaming in to my mind and I scanned magazines for images that I could add to the page. As I worked I was reminded of the final scene in Titanic, when Rose dies and is reunited, under the clock, with Jack. It was as if a projector began rolling in my head. I found myself, at ten, in my pyjamas, being drawn by the light under the closed door of the lounge room. As I opened the door I saw my parents, sitting by the fire knitting and listening to the radio. Dad smiled! Mum agreed that I could come and sit up for a little longer. Some tears sprang to my eyes as I wrote about those days in the small Victorian town where I was born.
Try this exercise for yourself! Describe the house and its occupants, making sure to include colour, smell, feelings, noises, associations, events.
Some other well known books based on an address
LIme Street at Two Helen Forrester
84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff
Cloud Street Tim Winton
12 Edmonston Street, by Australian author David Malouf takes us on a graphic tour of his childhood home. Spend a moment or two listing some of your former addresses.
For example, key addresses that spring to my mind are 7 Sale Road, 46 Mary Street, 4 Thompson Street. Here at Soul Food you can read about Carnforth, my current home.
In your journal take the time to sketch the floor plan of one of these places. When I began sketching 7 Sale Road, a childhood home, I included the whole yard. As I sketched I popped in interesting details such as the chook pen, the spot where I climbed through the fence to enter my cubby house, the fruit trees that flourished down the side, the garden bed where Mum grew gladioli, the lemon tree where Dad hung the beheaded chooks, the outdoor toilet down behind the garage. Then I sketched the floor plan and even drew in furniture.
Memories came steaming in to my mind and I scanned magazines for images that I could add to the page. As I worked I was reminded of the final scene in Titanic, when Rose dies and is reunited, under the clock, with Jack. It was as if a projector began rolling in my head. I found myself, at ten, in my pyjamas, being drawn by the light under the closed door of the lounge room. As I opened the door I saw my parents, sitting by the fire knitting and listening to the radio. Dad smiled! Mum agreed that I could come and sit up for a little longer. Some tears sprang to my eyes as I wrote about those days in the small Victorian town where I was born.
Try this exercise for yourself! Describe the house and its occupants, making sure to include colour, smell, feelings, noises, associations, events.
Some other well known books based on an address
LIme Street at Two Helen Forrester
84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff
Cloud Street Tim Winton