Before streaming, podcasts or binge-reading, many readers eagerly awaited the next instalment of a story in their local newspaper or magazine. Serialised fiction – where novels or long-form stories were published chapter by chapter over weeks or months – was once a popular way to follow an unfolding tale.

In that tradition, we are pleased to begin serialising The Mountain Errerts by John Adkins, first published in 1996. Each edition, readers can enjoy a new excerpt from this Tasmanian tale. We begin the journey on Tasmania’s rugged West Coast, as the story opens on a cold and misty road to Queenstown.

The Mountain Errerts

By John Adkins

It was late June when Janice and I were travelling down the main highway on the rugged West coast of Tasmania to the small mining village of Queenstown. The day on the coast was like most days during that time of the year, wet, misty, and very cold.

Our little car sped along dodging potholes, trying to keep its four wheels on the narrow ribbon of bitumen stretching before us. The car held its breath when big logging trucks sped past buffeting us to and fro. Log trucks were quite frequent on this part of the island, servicing the many timber mills and a large paper making company in the town of Burnie.

It had taken about half an hour to pass through the beautiful winding Hellyer Gorge where Dogwoods, Myrtles, Sassafras, Blackwoods, Man ferns and a host of other native trees and plants thrive.

We climbed out the gorge onto a plateau, then through dense rain forests and occasional button grass plains. Huge eucalyptus trees on both sides of the road reached up into the misty beyond, stretching their long slender arms skyward searching for the warmth of the winter sun.

Rivers rushing and tearing at this rock-strewn terrain traced their marks in this foreboding hinterland where only small marsupials and other such creatures live. Oh, and yes, the occasional sighting of the extinct Tasmanian tiger.