Click here to listen to Coen Hird read his essay ‘Blinding whiteness’.

I’M STANDING ON the coastline looking seaward, feet planted deeply in the gold-­coated crystal sands that were once part of ancient mountains far to the south. The rock carries its story of a long tidal journey north, testament to the power of deep time. Earth is carried from freshwater to saltwater and to freshwater again. This is a story known well to Australia’s eastern beaches.