Paula Xiberras 
Hilary Burden has the perfect last name and in a way it suits the situation she found herself in. Hilary found that her glamorous globe-trotting lifestyle of reporter was not the authentic life she wanted. Although she was in the happening places of London, Tokyo and Sydney and was reporting on Kylie when she made her first single, sat in Paris with Elle and in cafes in Venice, canoed down the Zambezi and was oft invited to launches including those of a new nail polish. The life Hilary was living was as artificial as the nail polish, a lacquer that gave a bright facade to the world but in time it’s cracks were inevitable. Hilary was engrossed in the telling of other people’s stories but she wasn’t being true to herself in living her own story.
It was when she returned to her native Tasmania (she had been born in London but grown up in Tasmania) to visit her family which still resided here that she began to consider a future in Tassie and the quest for a house to renovate.
When she picks up the phone for our conversation she asks about the weather in Hobart and I reciprocate with a question about the weather up north. she tells me it is raining but goes on to say how grounded our conversation is, talking about the weather where it is 100% meaningful to us’ and not just a polite exchange of chit chat or small talk. Similarly, she reminds me of the taxing trip it was to attend a dinner party in London where most of the time was spent commuting to and back from the event. Exhausting! In Tassie the situation was completely different with less long distances between destinations. No longer does meeting targets consume her time but the little accomplishments take on a greater importance.
When Hilary was in London going through her career crisis she would often visit a church nearby, perhaps for comfort perhaps for answers but found she learnt more about architecture than faith. Although Hilary is not necessarily religious in the formal church going sense she finds in her home in Tassie which was named ‘the nun’s house’ (by her dad and brother when they were informed it had formerly been a convent before becoming a private house), has given Hilary a sense of the spiritual. However, the greatest spirituality she finds in the natural world of the Tamer Valley.
The house is seemingly imprinted with the essence of the nuns which was made manifest when one of the sisters returned to the house. The nun in question carefully avoided walking on the door’s brass step, a step she had vigorously polished in her incumbency at the house.
The nun’s independence in running a school here is reborn in Hilary’s own occupancy as an independent career woman.
Her animals are two alpacas called Jack and Kerouac, they like Hilary are no longer on the road.
Although Hilary continues journalism and writing her life finds fruitfulness in her garden where she works with her partner Barney. Each day is an adventure, living out a conversation she had with a man from Boston, who spoke about his wife’s first comments every morning and her enthusiasm for the day ahead and it’s achievements.
Hilary may not be interviewing the latest celebrity or counting the cats in Zanzibar. instead her activities are down to earth, literally, as she and Barney work hard to combat the difficulty of growing asparagus and getting it to the stores while it is still fresh.
Days are full and busy but in a very real and fruitful sense and there is always time for rest as Hilary is reminded by the powerful and peaceful symbol by the bench at Bellingham as it stares out to the sea.
Hilary’s quote of “who I am is where I am” defines her contentment best as she has truly found herself and has the time to ponder,at least she will, once the September asparagus crop is in the shops!.
You can meet Hilary and hear her talk about her book on Thursday September 20 at 5.30 pm at Fullers Bookshop Hobart.
