Tomorrow When The War Began (25 page)

Author’s
Note

The settings in this book are based on real
places. Hell is a reasonably accurate description of Terrible
Hollow, in the Australian Alps, near Mt Howitt in Victoria. Small
cliffs, like steps, descend into the hollow, and are known as the
Devil’s Staircase. Tailor’s Stitch is the Crosscut Saw, a long
ridge of rock which runs for miles from Mt Howitt to Mt
Speculation, through Big Hill and Mt Buggery. It is a particularly
beautiful route for bushwalkers, and gives good views into the
Terrible Hollow.

It is generally accepted by locals that a
hermit did live in or around Mt Howitt and the Terrible Hollow for
many years. There were eyewitness sightings, particularly in the
late 1970s. In 1986 a hiker, Scott Vickers-Willis, found a
beautifully carved handmade walking stick concealed in a bush on
the edge of the Terrible Hollow. I have seen this stick, which is
still in Mr Vickers-Willis’ possession; its discovery, in such a
remote and wild part of the world, lends startling support to the
hermit theory.

Other locations used in
Tomorrow, When the War Began,
include China Walls,
a rugged mountainous area on private farmland near Khancoban in
NSW, and the long wooden bridge across the MurrumbidgeeRiver at
Gundagai in NSW. Generally though the settings used in this book
could be found in any AustralianState.