Uplands Always Attract

There is a part of England, an inland northern region set high above sea level, namely West Yorkshire, in which landscape still famously overshadows humanity, and where there remains a direct reliance on the land for food and employment and an awareness in its inhabitants of its isolation, outstanding scenery, diverse wildlife and cherished culture. In Australia, New England is a similarly elevated place, renowned for its brilliantly clear light - something noted by many regional writers (see Chapter 26 of this book) - and for its numerous sharp contrasts with the sun-drenched, holiday-focused beaches and densely populated cities of the coast. To New England, as to West Yorkshire, many visitors now come for solace, to enjoy a wide variety of leisure pursuits in the invigorating atmosphere, and to savour the distinctive and haunting settings of the innumerable stories - 'great flapping ribbons of shaped space-time' - that enfold our identity.