The Harbour: A city's heart, a country's soul by Scott Bevan

The Harbour: A city's heart, a country's soul Reviews

• 
  Nick

  Having grown up around Middle Harbour, this was a pleasure to read during a Christmas holiday period. Scott Bevan spent a year or so kayaking around Sydney Harbour, starting his journey upriver west of Gladesville to Parramatta, then heading east down the northern side of the harbour. His trips up the backwaters were of most interest to me, such as paddling up the Lane Cove River and up Middle Harbour past the Roseville Bridge. While close to residential and industrial areas, these out of the way parts of the Harbour are still quiet and secluded and accessible to the public. They hardly seem like parts of the Harbour at all. He covers tourist Sydney, as well, as he kayaks around the Opera House, Rocks and Bridge areas.
  
  Much of the book is historical, blending local history with colonial, industrial and military history. His conversations with people he meets along the way add to the colour and personalities of Sydney.
  
  Bevan wrote a book on the Hunter River a few years ago, as he kayaked from the river’s source to Newcastle. This is a fuller book, going to 600 pages. I also think it is better written.
  
  Maybe his next effort could cover the Hawkesbury and Pittwater areas? So many rivers to choose....
• 
  Barb

  Loved this book! I grew up overlooking Sydney Harbour and I feel a very deep connection with it. Now living as an ex-pat in the US, one of my favorites things to do when I come back is explore different parts of the harbour foreshores. So this book was fascinating for me......the history, the changes over the years, the various uses - and abuses - and the living, breathingentity that is Sydney Harbour. A joy to read this book! Thank you!
• 
  Nicole

  This informative and entertaining text "The Harbour : a city's heart, a country's soul" pays homage to Sydney's jewel like harbour - revered by locals and visitors alike. There is nothing quite like being on Sydney Harbour on a sparkling summer day. Glimpses of its many sights and sounds makes a local's heart sing!
  
  I enjoyed reading this fascinating project in which Scott Bevan captured some of the magic of Sydney Harbour as he kayaked around its perimeter over a twelve month period - capturing historic accounts and entertaining vignettes, such as his account of his encounter with the replica wooden skiff Brittania" and his early morning walk around the Middle Harbour beaches with Ken and Judy Done.
  
  This is a book I will love to return to often. It has a useful index, end notes and a simple map.
  This book makes a lovely companion to the beautifully illustrated "Mapping Sydney, a Sketchbook" by Caroline Bouquet with its exquisite watercolour illustrations and text in English and French.
  
  My only quibble is I wish I could display the paperback edition with its lovely iconic cover illustration of Sydney Harbour by Ken Done
• 
  Nicole

  This informative and entertaining text pays homage to Sydney's jewel like harbour - revered by locals and visitors alike. There is nothing quite like being on Sydney Harbour on a sparkling summer day. Glimpses of its many sights and sounds makes a local's heart sing!
  
  I enjoyed reading this fascinating project in which Scott Bevan captured some of the magic of Sydney Harbour as he kayaked around its perimeter over a twelve month period - capturing historic accounts and entertaining vignettes, such as his account of his encounter with the replica wooden skiff "Brittania" and his early morning walk around the Middle Harbour beaches with Ken and Judy Done.
  
  This is a book I will love to return to often. It has a useful index, end notes and a simple map.
  This book makes a lovely companion to the beautifully illustrated "Mapping Sydney, a Sketchbook" by Caroline Bouquet with its exquisite watercolour illustrations and text in English and French.
  
  My only quibble is I wish I could display the paperback edition with its lovely iconic cover illustration of Sydney Harbour by Ken Done
• 
  Claud

  This book took me a couple of months to finish which included some painful times in my life. It was like an anchor that kept me from feeling completely at sea (strangely for a book set on water). Sydney Harbour is a place I had a passing knowledge of before reading this book, but now it holds so many treasures to explore. It is written with wit and a great sense of adventure. I feel compelled to get in my kayak and have adventures of my own.
• 
  Chris Cousins

  I enjoyed Scott’s book about the Hunter River and this one was just as good. A great writer.
• 
  Colin

  What a delightful way to discover the most remarkable harbour in the world. It’s a cultural, geographical, industrial, historical, colonial, maritime, political, sporting, architectural account of Sydney Harbour. Bevan’s vehicle is his kayak. Starting near Rhodes on the Parramatta River, we paddle and probe and poke our way to Parramatta along the southern shores, heading back east on the northern shores, in and out of bays, pulling up on beaches, chatting to residents, workers, sailors and fisherfolk all the way to Manly, across the heads and back along the southern shores past the Quay and back to Rhodes.
  
  I’ve grown up with so many significant Sydney Harbour experiences. Crossing the Harbour Bridge singing “Delta Dawn” at the top of our voices in my friend’s car on our way to an end-of-year Luna Park under 9’s soccer team party, the school excursion harbour cruises, bursting out of the darkness of the Wynyard tunnel into the light and water and cruisers and ferries of Circular Quay, spending New Year’s Eve 2017 on the Lavender Bay waterfront... For a boy who grew up not in Balmoral or Balmain, but in suburban Peakhurst, it’s remarkable how resonant Sydney Harbour has been in my life, how much it has formed my sense of place in this city.
  
  My wife and I undertook a number of great Harbourside walks in recent years and out of that I had a desire to find “the book” that might explain the Harbour as your discover it on say, the Spit to Manly walk, or Rose Bay to Watson’s Bay, or Bradley’s Head to Balmoral. Its coves, castles, forts, mansions, barracks, parks, wharves, ruins, shacks, beaches, islands, rivers and headlands - where was that book that would explain and unlock this remarkable mystery bag?
  
  Right here. It’s thorough enough to be satisfying, paced in such a way not to be dense. It’s reads like a walk - or paddle - around the Harbour, because that’s what it is. A tad random, shaped by the next boathouse, slipway, passing conversation or unfolding view.
  
  It’s been great sharing the many miles as a passenger aboard Bevan’s one-person kayak. I suspect many will climb aboard and share the journey, the stories, the history and the unexpected discoveries as they bob and paddle with him around this remarkable estuary.