Text Classics: Tourmaline

Once prosperous, the town of Tourmaline in outback Western Australia is dying. The mines are drying up and the land is riddled by drought. Those townspeople left have little to do but wile away the hours with drink.

Salvation of sorts arrives in the form of Michael Random, a mysterious water diviner who emerges from the desert. As the town’s reluctant messiah Random begins to spread the word of Christ. Desperate for a reprieve, many of the locals are drawn to his teachings, but a stubborn few remain sceptical of their new leader.

A post-apocalyptic parable, Tourmaline is Randolph Stow’s most allusive and controversial novel. It remains a landmark in Australian literature more than half a century after its first publication.