I found this book really enjoyable and full of life’s lessons and especially suitable for teenagers.
I think I would be a great read as a school
text. I highly recommend it.

“Sometimes you have to make a mark, to show you were first, to show you matter and make a difference to the world.” Right from the opening line, we are aware of what Dig by Michael Toomey is all about.  Making his mark is exactly what our protagonist, Damian Foley, sets out to do with his friends when they decide to build a tunnel under a road.

This novel is set in Chelsea, a seaside suburb of Melbourne in the mid-1960s.  It's a time when boys watch TV with their parents, read Superman comics, fill in time playing cards, when most Mums stayed at home and when kids played out on the streets. It was also a time when Australia went to war to support the United States in Vietnam.

Damian has a close friend, Chris Monk. Chris has an older brother, Ross, who is called up to go to Vietnam.

All three have challenges to negotiate. Damian and Chris meet Martin, Michael and his mates. At first these boys seem to be unfriendly bullies. However, soon after Damian and Chris are set a challenge. They succeed in completing the task at risk to their lives and are accepted into the group.

After seeing The Great Escape, Michael - as the group’s leader - decides that they are going to build a tunnel. “Something like a tunnel would really show everyone what they were made of.” This is the mark they want to make. The construction requires teamwork and resilience. They organise themselves to scrounge whatever they can find from the neighbourhood and the local tip and begin the dig. “Working together on the tunnel made them feel like they were involved in something important. Like they were builders or something.”

Ross is something of a father figure for Damian. He's calm and reliable. Like the generation before him, however, he is damaged by the brutality of war. His initial reaction to being called up is to feel a commitment to the cause. Initially he says, “It just seemed right for me to go to war.” However, the reality he confronts affects him deeply.

Mr Walsh, Michael's father, has been seriously damaged by his own experience of war. In public he appears to be pleasant enough when he teaches Damian to play snooker. But behind closed doors he beats his wife. Damian comes to understand that the reason for this could be that he too has been impacted upon by what he saw fighting in the jungle against the Japanese. Thus the trauma of war is a secondary theme of the novel.

Dig is not only a worthwhile read because of the account of the challenges the boys take on, it’s also an enjoyable evocation of a period of time when life was much different – maybe simpler – than it is today. In order to evoke this sense of what it was like to be a child in the 1960s, the author introduces us to a range of intriguing minor characters. There’s the Sister who teaches Damian who is strict but underneath has a heart of gold. There’s an irate farmer who doesn’t appreciate the boys intruding on his land, the curmudgeonly milk bar owner who is angry about the boys’ constant attempts at pilfering; and Kevin, the local eccentric, who turns out to be a hero.

Not only does Dig develop a range of interesting themes, it is also a highly descriptive piece of writing. In its opening chapter there is a memorable description of the sea and the sand.  In the first two pages of the novel we follow Damian as he rides his bike to Patterson Beach. The scene is set for us beautifully by a series of simple images we are made aware of as he passes by. Our attention is drawn to “the islands of reeds where the river sagged”, “the river muscling up against the incoming current from the bay” and “a few birders with their buckets of bait and fishing lines flickering in the morning light”. And when Damian eventually enters the water we are inspired by the scene he is immersed in as he looks towards the You Yang Ranges: “Standing in the warm shallows, silver minnows scurried around his legs. He brushed his feet over the firm sand corrugations formed by the waves. Looked like endless eyebrows running parallel to the shore.”

However, living near Port Phillip Bay is not always as peaceful as the first few pages might suggest. The chapter titled The Storm demonstrates this with striking imagery. This is some of how Michael portrays its arrival: “The storm tore through the bay tossing small boats into breakwaters and breaking them on the rocks. Beaches were stolen by the wolfish waves and the seas pressed onto the towns swamping shopfronts.”

Dig is a book that should appeal to teenagers. Even though they are living in a different time with higher expectations, they will recognise that the themes of growing up, making friends, facing up to challenges and dealing with trauma are enduring. Wherever you live in whatever time, some things stay the same. Dig exemplifies this only too well and for that Michael Toomey should be commended.

Ivan Glynn
Melbourne, Australia.