Digger

"At the age of nine, Max Anderson diligently dug holes in his parents' back garden hoping to strike it rich. At thirty-six, he dug another hole for himself: he quit his job as Deputy Travel Editor for the Sunday Times to try his luck among the gold prospectors of the West Australian outback." "Digger is the story of a foreigner arriving unannounced and ill-equipped in a mining town. Welcome to Kookynie, a town that boomed and died before the Great War began, a town whose sole heirs are eight buildings, thirteen people and a pub. All around is ruin, mining waste, waterless scrub... and the world's purest gold." "Anderson spins a break-neck account of adventure and adversity as he tries to join the remarkable band of men who detect metal for a living. Ex-truckie Ron snarls about bastard, gold-filching tourists; veteran treasure hunter Lazy Les drawls bar-room advice while strumming air guitar with AC/DC; and pub owner Kevin quietly surveys all through a haze of cigarillo smoke. Digging between the abandoned shafts, Anderson learns the business of 'chasing the weight', unearthing superstitions and secrets, as well as stories of the original desert diggers who struck as much misery as