Angus Nivison Beacon

During the drought of 2019–20, my nephew Jock, who runs the property ‘Yalgoo’ in Walcha, NSW, was not only making decisions on which livestock to keep and feed, but also those he had to let go. Such decisions never come without consequences. This, coupled with long periods spent alone, feeding the stock and watching the topsoil blow away – along with hope – found him deep in melancholia. He told me the thing that got him through this desperate time (besides family and love) was this beaten-up, struggling tree, which was visible from all parts of the property. It became his beacon.

Angus Nivison, 2022