Dimensions
154 x 228 x 21mm
Trouble goes into the ordered environment of the courtroom to lay out in detail some of the dark disorder in the town's recent history. Men kill their wives, kill one another in seeming senseless acts of revenge, families feud, women join the violence, children watch and learn from the sidelines. Most of the action is relayed from town and roadside drinking camps, places that are out of sight and mind until gatherings awash with alcohol erupt in trouble that cannot be ignored. Occasionally it crosses race lines, with alcohol as the great leveller.
Kieran Finnane documents these crimes through witness accounts, recognising the way they go beyond accounting for the horror and tragedy of violent events, the guilt or innocence of perpetrators, to become also the evidence of a town and region being painfully remade. Drawing on 25 years as a journalist in central Australia, as well as experience of its everyday life, Finnane contemplates local prejudices and sensitivities, political and administrative divisions and reforms, and reveals the connections and aspirations of individuals in the wider community who offer a unique insight into this place and its people.
