Oliver's
Unposted, Autumn Leaves
-
A Memoir In Essays
, begins with his childhood growing up in the hilly suburb of Brooklyn-
west
, Wellington, New Zealand, in the 50s and 60s. He attended St. Bernard's Primary School, Brooklyn, then Marist Brothers, Newtown, and finally, St. Patrick's College, Cambridge Terrace. This period is extensively covered, including his post-schooldays, right through to the close of the 60s, in a Wellington that no longer exists, captured in the essays
Talk, Chalk And Asphalt Days, 'A Big Fruity Guy ...',
A Small Matter Of Demolition, A Nostalgia For Books,
and
Gnosis, A Spark.
There are essays on travel.
One Day in the Life of Richard Ramos
recalls San Francisco in 1979, and
One Day In the Life of Vicki Viidikas
covers Sydney from the mid to late 80s.
Gulls Dreaming at the Mast,
The River Runs Backwards
considers Irish cultural history as it relates to the life and times of Oliver's great grandfather, Thomas McCormack, who emigrated from Ireland to Australia, and later as a young man, sailed from Melbourne
aboard the
S.S.
Ringarooma
to Port Chalmers, Dunedin, in 1877.
counterpoints much that can be found in his epic poem,
Intercolonial
(2013) which 'reaffirms Oliver's status as our leading
transtasman
poet.'