Just Relations — Rodney Hall

Once a wild gold mining town, Whitey's Fall is now a small, brooding community of close and distant relations. One by one, the young are leaving for the alluring uncertainties of the world beyond. The old stay on, steadfast in their pride and sense of belonging. Remembering is their religion; the mountain is their altar. They are the guardians of the land's unbroken promise. But time brings strangers with different dreams, a different sense of justice. And their coming is a violation, a breakfast for parasites. Just Relations is winner of the 1982 Miles Franklin Award.