Acacia Rose was born in the Snowy Mountains during the construction phase of the Snowy Hydro Scheme, an engineering and population initiative that ultimately changed the cultural face and industrial & economic landscape of Australia. Her family then lived in Canberra, returning each summer to the Snowy Mountains to enjoy its magnificent landscapes and spectacular alpine flora, the natural beauty of the mountains and its seasons deeply imprinting on Acacia’s visual and emotional memory and ultimately drawing her back to the Snowy Mountains to live and write. The Snowy River continues to inspire and underpin Acacia’s writings and in her imagination the full and unfettered flow of the Snowy, mirrors the creative and spiritual health of Australians.
Prior to living in the Snowy Mountains, Acacia spent time in the Blue Mountains enjoying the beautiful vistas over the Megalong Valley inspiring her whilst she wrote Midnight Pearl and Azure Moon. These novels are a conscious journey into the British in India, later leading to India’s independence and partition with Pakistan. Azure Moon in particular addresses the atrocities committed against women during Partition.
The Glenbrook Train Disaster in the Blue Mountains marked another turning point in Acacia’s life at which time she abandoned plans to open a healing centre and instead travelled with the Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay publishing an anecdotal account, Journey with the Flame. She then returned to the Snowy Mountains, where a dream in which her ‘recently departed’ mother spoke to her, inspired the creation of the Wind Horse series. Wind Horse reflects the wild spirit, the power and beauty of the Snowy Mountains and its remnant population of wild horses. Acacia is currently writing the fourth novel in the series, which is also intended for a TV series. At the same time, she is completing the documentary Last Grazing Rites as well as its companion Conserving Gondwana, the history of conservation in the Australian Alps.
