Teenage boys in country Australia are prone to a particularly destructive restlessness. It’s a longing for something more that often manifests in drinking, drug-taking and other dangerous behaviour. It’s an agitation that leads them down perilous paths in search of meaning, worsened by the geographical and social isolation of the bush.
I’ve felt it. I left school at the end of year 10 and withdrew to my family property in rural New South Wales for two years. I was isolated and unhappy and desperate to feel that something – anything – mattered. I wanted to know that the world had substance, even if that process was painful or even traumatic.
