Longing for home is natural
There’s a deep sense of belonging that comes from being connected to a place. The environment and landscape we grew up and reside in, the architecture and surroundings, all inform who we are. Places root us to the earth — they live in us, as we live in them. More than just trees and buildings, our environment is infused with meaning, stories, memories and feelings.
When dislocated from your homeland or an environment you feel a deep affinity with, either through forced migration or relocation by choice, a piece of your heart remains there. This existential uprooting — being bonded to one place, while physically living in another — can carry an indescribable sadness.
As a local, and an east coast expat — a banana bender from Queensland — homesickness washes over me from time to time. In Welsh, the word “hiraeth”, which has no direct English translation, describes a feeling of longing for a place, a home, that you cannot return to, or the yearning for a lost or forgotten place that no longer remains. With the constant and disruptive changes that have been thrust upon our way of life in recent times, I have yearned for the simplicity of a time and place that feels so long ago.
I grew up in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast with a waterfall at the end of our road, and views over lush, green paddocks, sugar cane fields and the Pacific Ocean on the horizon. My whole being aches for this place. It longs to be immersed in the natural wonderland and simplicity of my youth — a forgotten world — and to bathe in the beauty of Queensland’s rainforest landscapes, once more.
This “hiraeth”, it got me real good last year. Though a short trip to the great southern forests around Pemberton worked wonders, reminding me of my essential self. And as serendipity would have it, I met a whole bunch of fellow Sunny Coast and Queensland expats around the place, too.
Western Australia is endowed with natural beauty, and it’s a stunning place to live. But with about one-third of us West Australians hailing from overseas, and a similar sizeable chunk of our population coming from interstate, I’m guessing I’m not alone. Sometimes though, thankfully, the remedy is as simple as a return trip home. At other times, the cure is more elusive. Especially for people who have been forced off their land through colonisation, war, famine, natural disasters, environmental degradation, or due to commercial interests.
Environmental philosopher and former professor of sustainability at Murdoch University, Glenn Albrecht has pioneered research in the relationship between human health, including mental health, and ecosystems. He coined the term “solastalgia” — combining the words solace, meaning comfort, and nostalgia, a longing for the past — to describe a form of environmental homesickness.
“Solastalgia” is the emotional distress one may experience, while at home, due to the negative impact of a completely altered, and unfamiliar environment. Mr Albrecht credits much of our contemporary emotional landscape, and high levels of psychological distress, to increasing levels of environmental distress.
Feeling homesick for a familiar, or even unknown place, is a natural part of the human psyche. But if we get stuck in this existential longing for too long we can lose sight of the magic that exists all around us, right now.
Our relationship to places is as fundamental as our relationships with people, and when severed, can cause real heartache. Like any relationship, we need to be able to visit, nurture and love the places, lands and countries that make us who we are. And when we can’t, we must find ways to bring the feeling of home to us.
This article was first published in The West Australian in Renée Gardiner’s weekly column in Agenda, 12 February 2022.