While most visitors are content to take the obligatory photo of their wind-blown selves along the Great Ocean Road, Victorian author Philomena Manifold has documented her findings in a sell-out book.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Written in Stone: Reading the Rocks of the Great Ocean Road is a visual book that tells the 135-million year story of the rocks of the Great Ocean Road.
The hard-back book, nine years in the making, sold 1000 copies within five months of its release.
Ms Manifold describes the book as “multi-disciplinary, combining research, writing, sketches and photographs to make the coast and its geology come alive”.
“It is a chance to see the coast through the eyes of a geologist,” she said. “This is land that is constantly being carved, sculpted and coloured.”
The book is split into three sections; Torquay to Aireys Inlet, Lorne to Castle Cove and Moonlight Head to Warrnambool. Each section contains maps, diagrams, sketches and photographs.
Ms Manifold said her crowdfunded book had raised $10,000 in a week of its release “and $20,000 at final count”.
“My vision is to connect people to landscape,” she said. “To invite a new and more intimate conversation with the natural world. My goal is for Written in Stone to be thought of as a high-quality art book exploring the geological stories of the region.”
Written in Stone has since been nominated for a Victorian Coastal Award.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
