STORIES FROM THE BILLABONG

With the permission of Aboriginal storytellers hoping to keep their myths and legends alive, the reteller, most famous for his book Walkabout (1959), has created a collection of ten stories accompanied by information about the flora, fauna and land formations mentioned. The anthology includes stories about the origins of Uluru (once known as Ayers Rock), the kangaroo’s pouch, the mountain rose and the scales of the crocodile. Next to the stories, the informational descriptions seem dry, but useful, with their measurements both in the metric system and English units. The glossary, two pages on Aboriginal symbols and a short afterword on the Aboriginal people are good additions to the book. Firebrace is from the Yorta-Yorta group, river people who lived near Victoria, and his paintings of the platypus and the crocodile are especially bold. His images swings from a more traditional Aboriginal style with vibrant colors and distinct, flattened shapes to a softer rendering of flowers and insects. Due to the oral transmission of the stories, no written sources are included. A welcome and important addition to folklore collections. (Folklore. 7-11)