Australia is made of stories. For around 60,000 years this land has been the home of very talented storytellers who have used the continent’s extraordinary nature for inspiration, for ways to explain how to survive, how to share, and how to love.
The very oldest tales—the Creation stories—have been passed down and remembered, generation to generation, from the very old to the very young. While First Nations knowledge has relied on an oral rather than written tradition, these days many wonderful stories are also being shared through printed word and illustration. While ancient in origin, these are Australia’s new classics, and though many are crafted for children to read, they offer meaning for readers of any age. Here are some of our favourites:
The Pilbara in Western Australia is a region of intense yet sometimes harsh desert beauty. It’s also where most of Australia’s iron ore is mined. Dingo’s Tree by Gladys Milroy and Jill Milroy, both Palyku women from the Pilbara, looks at the mining industry through the eyes of Dingo, Wombat and Crow, whose homes are being threatened by mining.
Gurawul the Whale: An ancient story for our time shows how science is beginning to catch up with the ‘old blackfella’ stories. Over 70 years ago, this ancient legend was passed down to Yuin Elder Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison (RIP) by his grandfather and uncles. He promised them that one day he would travel to the southern land, Tasmania, and search for the whale dreaming of their Ancestors. This is the story of how Uncle Max did just that.
Palyku woman and prolific author Sally Morgan has written The River, in celebration of these vital arteries of nature. Green ants crawling, frogs croaking, a goanna running, a fish splashing... they're all in this story, which is beautifully illustrated by Yolŋu man Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr.
For stories that include the language in which they were originally spoken, the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project has produced a series of wonderful bilingual illustrated books, all set in the wildness of Australia’s south west. Here are two of them:
The story of Noongar Mambara Bakitj was shared by Lomas Roberts (RIP), an Elder of the Wirlomin Noongar clan, and is co-written by Wirlomin Noongar descendant Kim Scott. It tells how a young Noongar man discovers he is a magic person. He follows a kangaroo track deep into the old people’s country, and meets some mambara (spirit creatures). One mambara gets angry and demands a bakitj (fight). In defeating the mambara, the young Noongar discovers he has magic powers.
One of the south coast’s most compelling Creation stories concerns the mighty Mamang (whale). A young adventurer travels the seas in the creature’s belly, singing a song his father passed down, until the whale brings him to new shores. The pictures by illustrators Jeffrey Farmer, Helen Nelly and Roma Winmar (Yibiyung) are truly delightful in this tale, related by Noongar woman Iris Woods with Kim Scott.
Get reading! Discover how nature has inspired our most beloved and ancient stories.
Dingo’s Tree, Gurawul the Whale: An ancient story for our time, and The River are all published by Magabala Books https://magabala.com.au/. Noongar Mambara Bakitj and Mamang are published by UWA Publishing https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/
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