Learning from the past

Helen Dale’s latest novel, Kingdom of the Wicked, was shortlisted for the Prometheus Prize for scine friction

‘‘WASH THE CRAP out yer eyes” was a thing I heard a lot as a girl, from both parents, sometimes followed by “you can’t see for looking”. This was partly for reasons of survival and safety: I spent my childhood in country Queensland, home to some of the most dangerous creatures on Earth — saltwater crocodiles, taipans, box jellyfish, redback spiders, blue-ringed octopus, stonefish.

At least once a week there were stories in the local newspaper of a child “taken” or killed or terribly sickened. I had to be taught, on pain of death, that my country posed risks to life and limb. Often, however, the imperative was directed to something wholly benign: a butterfly, a distinctively marked lizard, a flowering tree, even the