Salt River Road

August 8, 2023
Radio producer, journalist and now award-winning writer Molly Schmidt has poured her heart into her first book Salt River Road. ‘Write what you know’, they say, and having lost her father to cancer when she was young, Schmidt obviously knows how this affects families. The story is set in Western Australia in the late 1970s and focuses on the Tetley family and the messy aftermath of their mother’s death from cancer. The family consists of five kids, from Alby in Grade 1 to Steve in his early 20s, and their father, Eddie, almost a bit part, wading through his own grief. The reader witnesses their unravelling, especially teenage siblings Frank and Rose, born a year apart. They express their grief in very different ways—Frank destructive and Rose reflective—but amid their battles are poetic passages of love for their mum. It’s heart-wrenchingly honest and moving to read. Among this sorrow, another storyline emerges, that of Patsy and Herbert, Noongar Traditional Custodians of the area. Schmidt wanted to explore how a non-Aboriginal person like herself could write First Nations characters without stereotyping or misrepresentation. She consulted with Noongar Elders while writing the book and the insight gained is fascinating. Salt River Road is an impressive and courageous debut and will appeal to those who enjoy the nostalgia of 1970s Australia. It is challenging to read in places, but well worth it.