Have you ever found a fossil?

Tasmanian author and illustrator, Fiona Levings, also has a PhD in Geology. Although no longer working in that field Fiona has expertly harnessed her experiences and knowledge to craft an informative and captivating picture  book to tell, in lyrical prose and amazingly detailed illustrations, the story of the mountain that embraces Hobart in its foothills. Fiona shares some of the challenges, planning, book design and illustrative techniques undertaken to capture a millennia of geological change in Before the Mountain had a Name.

Cover image of Before the Mountain had a Name

If you live in Tasmania, the chances are that you have. Three hundred million years ago our little state sat wedged between mainland Australia and Antarctica, part of the long coastline of the supercontinent Pangaea. At that time, Tassie lay within the southern polar circle and a large portion of it was covered by a cold, shallow sea that was teeming with life. Reefs of brachiopods and bryozoans competed for space with clams and mussels, sponges, corals and hungry snails. The fossilised remains of these critters are preserved in abundance in rock formations across the state, many of which are exposed in cliffs and platforms lining the modern shoreline. 

Permian-aged fossils including Brachiopod shells and Bryozoan colonies
are commonplace in rocks found across large parts of Tasmania © F Levings

The moment in time that is captured within these rocks is just one episode in the multi-billion-year history of this part of the world. Every bit of the Earth is the way it is today as a result of geological processes that have operated continuously at all scales – from continents colliding to slow drips of water – for the entire life of the planet. The complexity of this system is breathtaking and beautiful - even more so when you add in the biosphere and all of the things that grow, rustle, scurry, crawl and fly around the surface. It’s a lot to take in but understanding how our world formed is important, not least because it gives us perspective on our own species and the role we play within it. The trick, then, is to communicate the beauty of geology whilst dodging its overwhelm.

Page spread depicting The Permian Sea - how the mountain may have
appeared 300 million ago © F Levings

I am a geologist who is lucky enough to write and illustrate books for kids. For years I’ve wanted to ‘do one on rocks’ but couldn’t figure out how. The sense of wonder and curiosity that kids have regarding our world is such fertile ground - the more we can augment it with real understanding, the better. Geology is most commonly communicated to kids using fact books and these are super useful as they teach the language and concepts that underpin the science. There are also books that focus on periods in time (dinosaurs are pretty reliable) or specific processes (volcanoes, anyone?) and certainly lots and lots of books on fossils. However, what I wanted to do was to bring these concepts together and tell the story as a whole which, as we’ve seen, is a terrible idea because it’s huge and even if I could write it, who would ever read it?

Two things came to my rescue. The first was kunanyi, our beautiful mountain, which presented itself as a subject. To focus on just the mountain, a single piece of the earth, reduced the scale of the task enormously. The second was a discovery I’d made with my previous book Now and Then that a detailed illustration really is worth a thousand words.  And so, Before the Mountain had a Name, a picture book where each page spread is one moment in the history of one mountain, came into being. The story of the mountain gives us a glimpse into deep time and the many processes that combine to make our world the way it is - as well as a little bit of context for those wonderful fossils we find so often in its foothills. And whilst the book can be read as ‘just a story’, like all good geology adventures, the more you dig into these pictures, the more you will find. 

Hobart's beautiful kunanyi/Mt Wellington © F Levings

Fiona Levings

To learn more about Before the Mountain had a Name and access resources, activities and references for the book go to fionalevings.com.au