Often portrayed as a laid-back larrikin, Australian actor Steve Bisley is best known for his role in the 1979 cult classic Mad Max. He looks – with unflinching honesty – at what became of the teenage farm boy who hitched to the swinging Sydney of 1966 in his second memoir All the Burning Bridges.
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The world Bisley grew up in was a small one, he says.
"There was no real work prospects around the little rural area where I grew up. When you left school the only thing to do if you didn't want to work at the local power station or down the mine was to go to Sydney."
So to Sydney he went, finding streets full of bell-bottom pants, body shirts, corduroy jackets and long hair – and a cadetship in the art department of Woolworth's department store.
A few years later he auditioned for the national drama school NIDA and was shocked to get in.
"I had no idea what it took to be an actor but I thought I really want to express myself."
He loved the discipline at NIDA, which is similar to what writing requires, he says.
Bisley had the idea of writing his first memoir – 2014's acclaimed Stillways – for years and finally realised he needed to actually do it before it became just "a dinner party conversation about the book I could have written", he says.
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All the Burning Bridges takes Bisley into his 50s, when he was hit out of the blue by depression.
"When it hit, I had no idea what it was first and I had no idea why this was visited on me. Sure, there was a lot of pressures, but i've always been good under fire … this was a different thing altogether. A numbing sense, a sort of detachment from the world and the black cloud truly descended.
"I ran off to my GP and said 'Why is this happening and what medication do I take to stop it?'"
He tried different medications for ten years – none of which helped – until a psychologist unlocked his stress.
"I remember her saying one day 'Your brain's a bit like the dog on crackonite' [a brand of firework]."
He's now helped by mindfulness, meditation and the work of spiritual author Eckhart Tolle.
"The essence of mindfulness is the past has gone, so why ruminate on that, the future isnt here, so really all you've got is right here, right now."
Even if he doesnt ruminate on the past, doesn't "all the burning bridges" suggest regret?
"Probably 'all' is a bit expansive, but when I look back at some decisions I made, I could have done better. There's a bit of smoke smouldering back there."
