AustLit

Epigraph:

• The tarnished swan, who living had no note

  But petulantly hissed, alike at dogs and men

  When death approached, unlocked its sullen throat

  Squawked once at God, and never hissed again.

• Dedication:

  To my mother

  my grandmothers

  and all their mothers and grandmothers before them.

  without their labours none of this

  would have been written.