John Marsden - When The War Began

This book was written while the author was in receipt of a writers fellowship from the Literature Board of the Australia Council, whose help is gratefully acknowledged.

John Marsdens website can be visited at:

First published 1993 in Macmillan hardback by Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia

First published in Pan 1994 by Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia

1 Market Street, Sydney

Reprinted 1994,1995 (five times), 1996 (four times), 1997 (four times), 1998 (three times), 1999 (six times), 2000 (four times), 2001 (three times), 2002 (twice), 2003 (three times), 2004 (three times), 2005 (four times), 2006 (three times), 2007 (twice), 2008

Copyright JLM Pty Ltd 1993

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

National Library of Australia

cataloguing-in-publication data:

Marsden, John, 1950- .

Tomorrow, when the war began.

ISBN 978-0-330-27486-9.

I. Title.

A823.3

Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

The characters and events in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Papers used by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

To my dear sister Robin Farran:

so much admired.

Acknowledgements

Im grateful to Charlotte Austin, Frank Austin, Ross Matlock, Jeanne Marsden, Roos Marsden, Catherine Maxwell, Sarah Vickers-Willis and Scott Vickers-Willis for providing some of the ideas, information or stories used in this book.

Chapter One

Its only half an hour since someone Robyn I think said we should write everything down, and its only twenty-nine minutes since I got chosen, and for those twenty-nine minutes Ive had everyone crowded around me gazing at the blank page and yelling ideas and advice. Rack off guys! Ill never get this done. I havent got a clue where to start and I cant concentrate with all this noise.

OK, thats better. Ive told them to give me some peace, and Homer backed me up, so at last theyve gone and I can think straight.

I dont know if Ill be able to do this. I might as well say so now. I know why they chose me, because Im meant to be the best writer, but theres a bit more to it than just being able to write. Theres a few little things can get in the way. Little things like feelings, emotions.

Well, well come to that later. Maybe. Well have to wait and see.

Im down at the creek now, sitting on a fallen tree. Nice tree. Not an old rotten one thats been eaten by witchetty grubs but a young one with a smooth reddish trunk and the leaves still showing some green. Its hard to tell why it fell it looks so healthy but maybe it grew too close to the creek. Its good here. This pools only about ten metres by three but its surprisingly deep up to your waist in the middle. Theres constant little concentric ripples from insects touching it as they skim across the surface. I wonder where they sleep, and when. I wonder if they close their eyes when they sleep. I wonder what their names are. Busy, anonymous, sleepless insects.

To be honest Im only writing about the pool to avoid doing what Im meant to be doing. Thats like Chris, finding ways to avoid doing things he doesnt want to do. See: Im not holding back. I warned them I wouldnt.

I hope Chris doesnt mind my being chosen to do this instead of him, because he is a really good writer. He did look a bit hurt, a bit jealous even. But he hasnt been in this from the start, so it wouldnt have worked.

Well, Id better stop biting my tongue and start biting the bullet. Theres only one way to do this and thats to tell it in order, chronological order. I know writing it down is important to us. Thats why we all got so excited when Robyn suggested it Its terribly, terribly important Recording what weve done, in words, on paper, its got to be our way of telling ourselves that we mean something, that we matter. That the things weve done have made a difference. I dont know how big a difference, but a difference. Writing it down means we might be remembered. And by God that matters to us. None of us wants to end up as a pile of dead white bones, unnoticed, unknown, and worst of all, with no one knowing or appreciating the risks weve run.

That makes me think that I should be writing this like a history book, in very serious language, all formal. But I cant do that. Everyones got their own way and this is mine. If they dont like my way theyll have to find someone else.

OK, better do it then.

It all began when ... Theyre funny, those words. Everyone uses them, without thinking what they mean. When does anything begin? With everyone, it begins when youre born. Or before that, when your parents got married. Or before that, when your parents were born Or when your ancestors colonised the place. Or when humans came squishing out of the mud and slime, dropped off their flippers and fins, and started to walk. But all the same, all that aside, for whats happened to us there was quite a definite beginning.

So: it all began when Corrie and I said we wanted to go bush, go feral for a few days over the Christmas holidays. It was just one of those stupid things: Oh wouldnt it be great if ... Wed camped out quite often, been doing it since we were kids, taking the motorbikes all loaded with gear and going down to the river, sleeping under the stars, or slinging a bit of canvas between two trees on cold nights. So we were used to that. Sometimes another friend would come along, Robyn or Fi usually. Never boys. At that age you think boys have as much personality as coat hangers and, you dont notice their looks.

Then you grow up.

Well there we were, only weeks ago, though I can hardly believe it, lying in front of the television watching some junk and talking about the holidays. Corrie said, We havent been down to the river for ages. Lets do that.

OK. Hey, lets ask Dad if we can have the Landrover.

OK. Hey, lets see if Kevin and Homer want to come.

God yeah, boys! But wed never be allowed.

I reckon we might. Its worth a try.

OK Hey, if we get the Landrover, lets go further. Wouldnt it be great if we could go right up to Tailors and into Hell.

Yeah OK, lets ask.

Tailors, Tailors Stitch, is a long line, an arete, that goes dead straight from Mt Martin to Wombegonoo. Its rocky, and very narrow and steep in places, but you can walk along it, and theres a bit of cover. The views are fantastic. You can drive almost up on to it at one point, near Mt Martin, on an old logging track thats hard to find now, its so overgrown. Hell is whats on the other side of Tailors, a cauldron of boulders and trees and blackberries and feral dogs and wombats and undergrowth. Its a wild place, and I didnt know anyone whod been there, though Id stood on the edge and looked down at it quite often. For one thing I couldnt see how youd get in there. The cliffs all around it are spectacular, hundreds of metres high in places. Theres a series of small cliffs called Satans Steps that drop into it, but believe me, if these are steps, the Great Wall of China is our back fence. If there was any access the cliffs had to be the way, and Id always wanted to give it a go. The locals all told stories about the Hermit from Hell, an ex-murderer who was supposed to have lived up there for years. He was meant to have killed his own wife and child. I wanted to believe in his existence but I found it a bit difficult. My brain kept asking myself awkward questions like: How come he didnt get hung, like they did to murderers in those days? Still, it was a good story and I hoped it was true; not the murders part but the hermit part at least.