The landscape of the past can be difficult to decipher. Its clues are cryptic, fragmented and easy to miss. Gumbramorra—the ephemeral wetland beneath Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west—has been as mystifying to water managers and engineers as it has to residents.

Yet hidden does not mean gone. The wetland still shapes the land, the flow of water and the rhythm and life of the community in profound and unexpected ways.

Local Field Notes explores these buried histories: tracing Gumbramorra and Marrickville’s floods; returning to the freshwater creek that lay under the Addison Road Community Centre; listening for the voices that have been overlooked. We also cross the harbour to investigate the convict history of Cockatoo Island.

“ The field is wide—and the past is still moving beneath our feet. ”

You can find Gumbramorra: Water, Place and People
exclusively at Gleebooks in Dulwich Hill, Glebe and Blackheath.

Or explore the Books page here at Local Field Notes.