The Soul Stone

The Soul Stone is a journey into humanity’s far-distant past—to a time when people were bound intrinsically to the natural world. This is the story of one man’s compulsive search for meaning from an ancient people whose spiritual identity is bound to nature, to country—and who refuse to be subsumed.

A Catholic priest is assigned to a remote mission station in Australia’s Kimberley region to maintain the culture of colonisation. But the converter becomes the converted; the priest is consumed by a mystery of faith, an entwining with nature, far more powerful than anything his own doctrines can help him counter or comprehend. He is confronted by a world in which there is no separation of the material from the mystical. Most confronting of all are laws and lores from the beginning of human time. The priest’s attempts to bring this experience to his ministry trigger violent, passionate repercussions.

Author's notes:

1. The Soul Stone was initially published in 1993 but its distribution halted  when its printing was caught out by a corporate take-over and the new publishing entity had a different market focus. In the intervening years  the book has been significantly re-edited, including sections re-written, to tighten the narrative and make the language more contemporary.

2. Of critical importance, this is not a European Australian writing an Indigenous story. It is the story of the profound influence of Indigenous culture and land spirituality on a European Australian - the reversal of the coloniser narrative.