Entertainment
6 December, 2025
In national focus
FORMER Innisfail high school teacher Greg Bourke is taking readers deep into the steamy, mysterious heart of Far North Queensland with his debut psychological thriller ‘Under Silkwood’.
Set in the Silkwood sugar cane fields of the 1980s, the novel explores passion, family loyalties and long-buried vendettas against the looming threat of scything cyclones.
Mr Bourke, now based in Brisbane, said the story grew from nostalgia for his first teaching post at age 19.
“I drove my battered Kingswood up the old Bruce Highway for five days, sleeping in the back of the car. I’ve always remembered my first colleagues, my first students and the welcoming families in these tiny cane-farming hamlets,” he said.
“I chose Silkwood because of its Sicilian immigrant community, people who arrived with nothing and worked their way into prosperity. My family heard all of my old stories of the 80s and challenged me to write the book.”
The novel began to take shape during a quiet stay at Etty Bay, Mr Bourke explained.
“I was in a cabin with patchy internet and no ringing phones. For the first time in years, I could just focus. That’s when I started outlining the story and I knew it had to be set in Far North Queensland.”
Mr Bourke also drew on personal experience for the book’s protagonist, Darcy Grant, a young teacher navigating the aftermath of Cyclone Winifred.
“Darcy’s journey starts with a memoir – the high school environment, the crocodile warnings in creeks, the cassowaries roaming around – then I dramatised it. Fiction allowed me to tell the story without risking identifying anyone.”
Under Silkwood also touches on broader themes. Mr Bourke said: “One of the lead characters is a young woman navigating tradition and independence. The book explores the challenge of seeing the good in people, rather than rushing to judgment. Each reader will take something different from the story.”
The pre-sale release sold out quickly, along with the first couple of print runs, a surprise for Mr Bourke. The book is in print and e-book via Hawkeye Publishing, QBD Cairns, Etty Bay Caravan Park and Cairns Books.
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