Sarah Drummond

Teaching: I’ve had the pleasure of teaching at the Albany Campus of UWA for more than a decade, working in areas of English, Creative Writing, Environmental History and the School of Indigenous Studies with University Smart Start. So, the disciplines I’m involved with at the Albany Campus deeply informs my thinking about my own work -which then helps me impart that knowledge to students.

Research: The books I’ve published so far are Salt Story – a memoir and social history of commercial fishing families in the Great Southern, and The Sound – an historical novel about a little-known sealing community who sailed from Bass Straight to King George Sound. This novel is part of my PhD exploring precolonial contact experiences in Southern Ocean communities, using both historical and fiction narratives.

I live on the border of Menang/Bibbulmum Country and regularly engage in the slow, reparative work of learning about the Country I live and walk on. Working on a firetower lookout and as radio support for ground crew during the summer fire season further teaches me about ecology, fire behaviour in the Anthropocene and the language of smoke (yes, there actually is a language for smoke!)

Research Interests: Regarding co-supervising or examining Honours and PhD candidates, my strengths are the intersections of history and fiction, fire history, environmental fiction, creative nonfiction, Australian nature writing and Southern Ocean sea country narratives. I'm also very interested in cultural connections with the Great Southern Reef and the new South Coast Marine Park.

In my spare time, I like to hang out at the inlet I’ve grown to love dearly, spend time with my family, write short stories and essays, and dabble in producing audio stories about Great Southern communities, art, ecology and nature writing.