Searching for the Real Australia
When I first drove into Sofala nearly a decade ago, it seemed like your typical Aussie country town. A few old blokes sitting on sagging couches watching the world go by, and a pub with the comforting odour of stale beer and urine, with dead flies by the window. There was a shop selling toasted ham and cheese sandwiches (white bread and plastic cheese of course), and a scattering of stallholders packing up after the monthly market. In other words, despite a streetscape that would do a Clint Eastwood western proud, Sofala didn't stand out over hundreds of other small towns that I've downed a schooner in. Sofala, the main drag Here's Russell Drysdale's take on the same streetscape. It's a bleak, unforgiving vision. Russell Drysdale, Sofala Drysdale visited Sofala for the first time in 1947 on a road trip with fellow artist Donald Friend. The town had a bigger impact on Drysdale than it did on me. It was to become a focal point for some of his b