By Tim Winton - Macmillan, $17.95 hb; Pan, $12.95 pb

In Blueback - 'a fable for all ages' Tim Winton gets to the core of both the need to and how we can preserve our natural habitats, with characteristically effortless prose.

Blueback is the story of Abel Jackson's relationships with his mother, the sea and an old blue groper. We are taken through Abel's childhood at Longboat Bay; his teen years helping defend the bay from a ruthless, ocean destroying abalone fisherman called Costello (could this be a reference to one Peter Costello, treasurer in a Government Winton has elsewhere described as only interested in 'balancing the books'?); the struggle to save the Jackson property from developers; and the eventual battle to preserve Longboat Bay 'for all time'.

It's a story where those who wish to sustain the environment are clear winners. Blueback is in that way, unfortunately, a fable. However, Winton is unapologetically polemic as he impresses upon readers the absolute necessity that our generation sustain the oceans.

Perhaps that's why Blueback is a fable for all ages. Winton surely knows younger readers will hear Blueback as a call to arms. He is perhaps hoping older readers will suspend their cynicism for the hour it would take to read Blueback- and dream of how things might be.

The book is full of Winton's experiences of growing up on the coast of suburban Perth in Western Australia. He moved his own young family to the northern coast of Western Australia in order for them to experience the full range of aquatic species he saw as no longer available off the coast of Perth. Driving this narrative is Winton's desire that others don't have to relocate in order to experience the wonder of living with a bounty of species.

Because Blueback is a short book, it seems that 'good' quickly triumphs over 'evil' in the struggle for the ocean's future. However, Winton does describe some of the battles to save Longboat Bay as taking several years. He does his best to ensure that readers realise that the eventual oceanic paradise which Longboat Bay becomes will not happen without hard work and steadfast commitment.

And Winton also does his best to ensure that readers understand the lifestyle Abel and his mother, Dora, lived was not all beer and skittles. They fished long hours for their meals, rather than for commercial purposes. There was fire wood to cut, chooks to tend to and a cow to milk. Yet we still romanticise Longboat Bay, as Abel and Dora dive and swim and enjoy seafood feasts. We feel that, if we live inland, we have barely lived. I'm sure Winton wouldn't have wished to have created this romanticism. He would instead be hoping to call to all beach-loving Australians to put their love into action.

Without revealing the narrative, the lives of Abel and his mother are drawn into relief in order to paint a vision of how humanity can preserve ocean habitats. For Winton, it is the path of commitment; the indigenous intervolvement of people and their natural environment - with people treating the environment as 'subject rather than object' (Winton quoting Charles Birch in the Good Weekend magazine).

Though the comparison between Abel and his mother will no doubt anger marine biologists and those committed to a modern scientific approach to environmental preservation, Winton would perhaps appeal to the fact that Blueback is a fable. It contains broad thematic brushstrokes in order to make points. However, I don't think that explanation will placate the concerns of the aforementioned lab-coated types. Winton may have a future battle on his hands with those offended by his almost black and white treatment of scientific environmentalism versus experiential (indigenous?) environmentalism.

Given Winton's Christian faith, one must question why the Jackson boy was named Abel. The biblical Abel was, of course, known for providing God with an appropriate sacrifice. Though Blueback's Abel is many years in arriving at the altar, he too makes a large sacrifice which ensures Longboat Bay's sustenance for generations to come.

And so it is that sacrifice is at Blueback's core. Winton is saying that no amount of airy fairy tree-hugging or pot banging will provide us with a sustainable environmental future. Winton's Christian faith informs his environmentalism. He knows it will take the ability for many to make sacrifices akin to Abel and Dora's that will be the fuel for his Blueback fable to be realised around Australia's coast.

PM

Reproduced courtesy of 'Shoot the messenger' website. http://www.shootthemessenger.com.au/ . That site is worth a visit.