Master bookbinder and book restorer Milton Watkins writes a new life chapter in the Northern Rivers of NSW.
Story Bruce McMahon Photos David Kelly
Milton Watkins the bookbinder has found his piece of paradise in a rural hamlet, his workspace window overlooking Old Bonalbo’s famous cow paddock. There are a scant 27 homes – no shops, no post office – here, some 100km west of Kyogle in the Northern Rivers of NSW, where, in 1930, a crowd of locals watched Charles Kingsford Smith daringly fly a stranded plane from the farmland across from Milton’s home.
“Today, maybe 3 people a day walk past the front door,” Milton says. That’s fine by the master bookbinder, swamped with repair work on centuries-old books and modern-day equipment manuals. He turns to restoration work on a 1613 Bible. Alongside it sits a well-worn paperback edition of How to Win Friends and Influence People waiting for rebirth.
This story excerpt is from Issue #161
Outback Magazine: June/July 2025
