Aboriginal people in stories 

APPLEGATE, Cathy Red sand, blue sky. 
A thrilling sequence of events brings together two Alice Springs girls from different family and cultural backgrounds. There are similarities however which will bind them for life. (mystery) 

CLARK, Mavis Thorpe  The Min-Min  1967 (Book of the Year 1975) 
Three Aboriginal people welcome two white children who trek across the desert to ask advice. 11-14 

DABBS, Jennifer  Top-enders  from the telemovie Touch the sun series 1988 
Mick and Alice go to the same school in Darwin. Alice runs away from home just as Mick takes off to join his uncle on the rodeo route. On a lonely stretch of bush road they discover they've both had the same idea. In the desert they learn a lot about the land, and after numerous adventures, themselves, becoming friends. Members of Mick's extended family provide meals, rescues and communication via the Aboriginal radio station. 10-12 

DAVIS, Jack Honey spot  1987 
Tim is Nyoongah (WA) and new in town. He strikes up a friendship with Peggy despite his older cousin William's distrust of 'wadjellas' (whites) and Peggy's father's racism. They are working on a dance routine for Peggy's recital when her father, a ranger, appears, accusing William of cutting down trees. The ranger is bitten by a tiger snake and the two boys rush him to hospital. He apologises for his racism, and the Honey Spot Dancers continue. 10-14 

DOBBIE, Fran  Whisper  2000 
Edie lives with her her grandparents, generous loving Auntie Gwen and wise Pop. With her best friend she has fun exploring the bush and sea surrounding their small town. Life is fabulous with a close community, but always lurking are the cars of the Protection Board, fortunately defeated through cooperation of all in the town; black and white. 

KIDD, Diana  The fat and juicy place 1992 
Jack is keen on space stories and rap music, but misses his father. When Jack meets Birdman, he learns much about the past, including a fabulous secret. Jack is a great character, 'mish' yet caring, imaginative yet predictable, curious yet accepting; a mixture of personality that reflects the intermix of Aboriginal and western culture. Colloquial language. 9-12 

KIDD, Diana  Two hands together  2000 
When Ellie moves she makes friends with the white girl next door. Lily and her brother Jake enjoy their visits to Ellie's place, where there is music, good food and storytelling, but they cannot tell their  father, who is adorable and good fun, but racist. 8-12 

EGAN, Ted  Outback holiday (Aboriginal Australia Reading series) 
Sydneysiders Mark and Wendy accompany their father on a visit to his friend Manjaku at Alice Springs. The two families drive to Arnhem Land via Yuendumu. They are the same age as Barilma and Warili, who teach the white kids bush lore. 

FATCHEN, Max  Chase through the night (also a film) 1977 
When bank robbers rounded up people from a township in northern Queensland, Bindaree and his two friends organised a war of nerves against them, helped in other ways by Narli, an wise, ageing blind man. 

HATHORN,  Libby  Thunderwith  1989 [film] 
An example of a story with a wise Aboriginal mentor for a white child. 12-14 

HORNIMAN, Joanne  The Serpentine belt  1994 
Kat finds out her father didn't die in a car accident as she had been told.12-16 

HURLE, Garry  The secret of Frosty Drop 1995 
Albert, an Aboriginal boy, and his friend Emma try to stop a greedy botanist from taking an underground orchid, one that appears only once a year, on the winter solstice. 10-14

HUTCHINS, Elizabeth  Bring back the songs  1998
What did Dad mean by her 'mother's country'? Who was her mother anyway? Had her dad been honest with her? When Nessa's mum died she was left with memories that puzzled her and and questions she couldn't ask her stepmother. When the family moved north to the place she was born, Nessa started to discover things about her mother and herself.

LOWE, Pat The girl with no name
A girl and her family teach a white boy about their country, its ways and about family values. Matthew had set off alone to camp at Goanna Gorge. He was determined to find the Aboriginal rock paintings he knew were hidden there. But his plans fell apart when he realised he couldn't find his way back. The wild country of the Kimberley, which Matthew thought he knew so well, seemed to mock him with its secrets, until he met these people. 

McDonald, Meme and Boori PRYOR  My Girragundji 1998 
When an Aboriginal boy gets tired of the problems life presents, a green frog, a girragundji, appears, sent to him, he believes, to protect his spirit. He puts aside his fears and grows beyond the despair. 9-12 
Sequel Binna Burra man (more for teens) 

MARTIN, David Hughie  1971 
This was the first novel to deal with segregation, and the first to have a contemporary urban Aboriginal child as the main character. 10-14 

MOLONEY, James 
Dougy   (Honour Book 1994) 
When Dougy's sister Gracey is selected for the state athletics championships, her life is changed, but it triggers dramatic events in town too. The mysterious Moodagudda seeks a victim, and it's up to Dougy to save his family, and prove himself. 

Gracey
Part history, part mystery. Gracey comes home to Cunningham on holidays. Now that she is a state athletics champion everything looks different. Dougy, her younger brother, does odd jobs around the town. Raymond, the eldest, is a football star; he played A Grade in Sydney, and is doing really well for the local team, isn't he??? With themes of acceptance, and prejudice, Gracey starts querying her Aboriginality. Sad ending. 

Angela (more for teens)

NICHOLLS, Bron  Three way street
Aggie lives with her mother, sister and brothers in an inner city suburb in Melbourne. The back yards are small and made of concrete, but the front doors open on to the street, where things happen. It all began with the new pup that Mum grudgingly let them keep (to save its neck) and then an artist bloke moved in  across the street ... This tells of one important year in Aggie's life, and of her efforts to make sense of growing up. - delightful, realistic 

NILSSON, Eleanor  A lamb like Alice  1990 
The story is told through the eyes of Dan's white friend, Sophie. They live in a happy rural community.  (9-12) 

RUBINSTEIN, Gillian  Answers to Brut  1988
There is no statement of Liz's Aboriginality; Kel's mum is a young Aboriginal woman whose easygoing appearance belies her strength, and is the only adult who is truly honourable 9-11 

SERVENTY, Vincent  Turtle Bay adventure 1969 
This famous conservationist only wrote one novel, and this is a thinly disguised nature walk, with two families making friends. However the understanding and appreciation was ahead of its time. 9-12 

SHARPE, Margaret  The Traeger kid  1983 
Dedicated to the real Traeger kids at Traeger Park Primary School in Alice Springs, this is a great story of the travels of Trisha Bloomfield, an Aranda girl. 8-12 

SLATER, Pat  An eagle for Pidgin  1970 
Pidgin called himself after a hero, an Aboriginal bushranging Robin Hood. He makes friends with Ned when the Kelly family move to the coastal Kimberley town, and enjoys going on camping expeditions with the family as Ned's father is a wildlife artist. Discovering a bird smuggling operation puts them in danger and leads to adventure. 11-14 

SPENCE, Eleanor  The leftovers  1982 
James is one of four children who want to stay together as foster children. (10-12) 

THIELE, Colin The fire in the stone 1974 
Willie sets out with his white friend Ernie, who has had his precious cache of opal stolen and is determined to catch the thief. ( b/w relations in a small country town) [film] 

THIELE, Colin Storm Boy 1963 [film] 
Fingerbone Bill is neighbour and close friend of Hide-Away Tom, and mentor to his son who raises three orphaned pelicans. 9-12 

THIELE, Colin Coorong captive  1985 

TODD, Trevor  Old Sam, Jasper and Mr Frank (1985) 
Jasper befriends his cranky old white neighbour Sam and together they care for a stray homing pigeon. Friendship. 8-10 

BANDLER, Faith and FOX, Len  Marani in Australia 1980 
Vowing to find his kidnapped father, at 17 Marani signs up for three years of indentured labour in Queensland. On the sugar plantation, the Islanders are treated like slaves. When Marani is injured in a race riot, a friendly white man smuggles him onto a boat bound for Brisbane. Based on stories told by Faith Bandler's father, a Pacific Islander who was kidnapped like Tarua. 

BELL, Helen  Idjhil  1996 (picture book) 
This account of a child's separation from his parents gives some idea of the life of the Nyungar people (Swan Valley region, W.A.) in the early nineties and how they had to cope with white settlers. 

DURACK, Mary  Yagan of the Bibbulmun  64 / 76 

HILL, Anthony The burnt stick
John Jagamurra grew up at the Pearl Bay Mission on the north west coast. Because his father was white, he had been taken from his mother. This is the story of how his mother, Liyan, tricked the authorities twice before he was finally taken, by rubbing charcoal on John's skin. 7-12 

PIKE, Jimmy Yinti
Pat Lowe used stories told by Jimmy Pike about his childhood in the Great Sandy desert (far north WA), as a basis for fiction about a Walmajam boy. Some are stories of everyday life, and some are traditional stories that were told to them. Portrays a hard life; tribal existence till closing chapter; first contact with white people. Also Desert dog and Desert cowboy

BAILLIE, Allan  Songman  1994 
An adventure set in 1720. Yukawa travels with the Macassan fishing people. 

CENTER, Rus  Nunga  1985 
Set between 1788 and 1803, this describes the traditional life of the Bunurong people of the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, unfortunately limited by the perspective of a white writer. It traces the life of Nunga from her birth till she runs away with Yamali, her childhood sweetheart, in defiance of an arranged marriage. 

CHAUNCY, Nan  Mathinna's people  1967 
While writing Tangara, Nan Chauncy became so involved that she wanted to write a book about the Tasmanian invasion and genocide from the Aboriginal point of view. This hadn't been done before. Tasman exploring and naming Van Diemen's Land was to be the end of the idyllic existence of the Toogee people, the Aboriginal tribes of western Tasmania. Mathinna was the daughter of the last of their chieftains. Much of the background is now seen to be inaccurate, but this is a landmark book. 

FATCHEN, Max  The spirit wind  1973 
An adventure story with goodies and baddies, captures and escapes. Jarl Hansen jumps ship off the South Australian coast and is rescued by an Aboriginal fisherman. Nunganee is central to the story, but unfortunately a ceremony of his is described which may be sacred / secret knowledge, a fact which was probably unknown to the author at the time of writing. 

MARTIN, David  The man in the red turban 1978 
It is 1933; the Depression. Rowena Miller hides Will, who is a union organiser on the run from the war, while a broken ankle heals. After he was found and imprisoned, she joined in a protest march, with a dozen of her mob. 'Lively action and gutsy characters.' KW

PORTER, James  Piya  1991 
Surviving the wreckage and devastation of a cyclone and tidal wave, Piya is washed ashore on an island in northern Queensland. She shares the island with Len Scott, a lone writer, who shares her love of the wild and spirit of freedom. But he is powerless to prevent her being rounded up and taken to a harsh government reserve.  12-16 

PRICE, Pat   Hills of the Black Cockatoo 1981 
Three Tasmanian children at the beach witnessed two white people arriving in a boat they hid. When they returned home there was noone there. 

ROBERTS, Beth Magpie boy  1989 
Dreenee was born at the same time as white settlers began to arrive in Tasmania. One day when he was curiously watching them, a man took him home. He escaped on the second night by climbing up a chimney, and returned to his people with information, and an iron pot. Time passed, and one night he was awoken by magpie voices. He found Alice, unconscious after her pony bolted. She was returned home, and the Aboriginal servant of the family was invited to join their clan. Prequel to Manganinnie. 

ROBERTS, Beth Manganinnie (1979) [film] 
During the 'Black Drive' of 1830, Manganinnie, a Tasmanian, became separated from her tribe. Seeing her loneliness, Droemerdeene, an ancestral spirit, told her that he would send her a white girl to care for and love. For three years Manganinnie and Jo-Jo followed the seasons and and visited the ancient festival grounds of Manganinnie's people. But tragedy struck, and Manganinnie knew that she had to give up that which meant most in her life. 

ROY, Thomas Albert  The curse of the turtle 1977 
Tajurra, of the Oona people on the Cape York Peninsula, and Jimmy Brent, of the Brent family cattle station, are close friends. Tajurra tells Jimmy that his home is built on a sacred area, a Bora ring, and that because of this, and the killing of Tajurra's great grandfather, there is curse on the property. 'Remarkable for its non-racist presentation of traditional culture, but unfortunately the illustrations are offensive' MD. 
Sequels: Vengeance of the dolphin and  The man from the Dreamtime

SPENCE, Eleanor  The family book of Mary-Claire 1990 (12-16) 

WILMOT, Haidi  The Castles of Tuhbowgule
14 year old Haidi Wilmot turned her father's bestselling novel (Eric) into something for young people. 200 years ago, four Eora children came under the spell of Pemulwuy, the Rainbow Warrior, the only one who understood what was happening to their people. The 'castles' were being built on the edge of Port Jackson, known to the local people as Tuhbowgule. 

KELLEHER, Victor  Taronga  1986 
In a post-holocaust Sydney, social systems have broken down with looting, and roaming gangs. An Aboriginal girl, Ellie, escapes to the mountains with her friend Ben, who has been able to communicate with the animals and help free them. 12-16 

LISSON, Deborah  The Warrigal - mature readers (timeslip) 
Future Australia has been driven into captivity by telepathically controlled dingoes, Warrigal being a renegade landholder who had power over the dingoes and was accepted by the 'Wise ones', descendants of the indigenous peoples, who protected the forest. For Ronald Morganschild, only son of the Landsholder of Marridail, the day of his homecoming should have been the happiest of his life. After four years away at school, he had returned to his father's homestead. Soon, on his 17th birthday, he would be officially proclaimed as Morgan's heir. But Ronan was troubled. Something had happened to the Marridail of his childhood. Why was everyone so fearful. Was his father really the tyrant that whispered accusations suggested. And what was the truth behind Morgan's quarrel with the mysterious man they called the Warrigal?  Ignoring the warnings of those closest to him, Ronan, aided by his childhood friend, Karri, began to search for answers. It was a quest that would drag them both into a dangerous web - to a secret that should never have been kept....  Themes - protection of the forest, medieval clash of good vs evil.

POULTER  Marjorie's magic Mook-Mook 1989
Marjorie and Bindi are friends in a bush town. Marjorie's uncle gives her a charm, a Mook-Mook. However the charm is enchanted, and it is the Mook-Mook's job to make mischief. 9-11 

SCOTT, Bill  Boori 1978 
Fantasy, quest, magic and adventure based largely on the beliefs of the Kabi and Wakka nations, who lived near the Qld coast north of Brisbane. Boori must seek the warrior Dingo, win his friendship and outwit the thieving Pukwudgies. On the way he overcomes many perils. When he returns home from the inland deserts, there are more perils, for the Melong, spirit of water and gatherer of storms, oppresses his people. (10-14, teen) 

Darkness under the hills (the sequel) follows the adventures of the young Aboriginal warrior and magician on his quest to bring the forces of protection against the evil spirit, Rakasha, lurking in his stronghold under the hills. 

SCOTT, Bill  Shadows among the leaves  1984 
Family / ghost story 11-13 

SCOTT, Mavis  Birdstone summer  1992 (9-12) 

WRIGHTSON, Patricia  Balyet 1989
An Aboriginal woman travels to perform rituals; she is a guardian. 14 year old Jo wanted to go with her, so stowed away in her car. Mrs Willett knows she should take Jo home, but Jo pleads to stay. The lonely spirit of Balyet, a young girl, haunts the hills and wants Jo to die to end her loneliness. There is a struggle for life between Mrs Willet and the wily Balyet. Frightening 

ARTHY, Judith  The Children of Mirrabooka 1997 
Leaving a significant place undisturbed is the theme of this novel set in the Boonah district, in southern Queensland. When Jenny visits her great aunt at the family farm, like her aunt, she can see and sense beings. In a time shift, she sees a violent rounding up of the local Aboriginal people. This enables her to help stop a proposed deal to sell the property to tourist developers. 

BOON, Poppy  The black crystal  1993 
Set in a Queensland rainforest, this is clumsily written but has a message of understanding and reconciliation. Emma has recurring dreams in which she is advised by an Aboriginal elder and a black crow. One day she is lured into the rainforest by a crow, gets lost and is projected into an earlier time. She meets an Aboriginal woman she recognises as herself. Back in her present time, Warlawurru, a handsome youth, takes her to his grandmother, a wise woman, who supervises her initiation into womanhood. During the ceremony Emma is 'sent' on a quest. 12-14 (time slip, quest) 

CHAUNCY, Nan  Tangara
When Lexie was eight, she discovered an old shell necklace which had belonged to her great- great- aunt. Through the necklace, she met Merrina, who took her to a gully which held a mystery. Combination of fantasy and Tasmanian history. 

FRENCH, Jackie  Walking the boundaries
Martin is a city child of separated parents, summoned to the country farm of his great grandfather to carry out a seemingly easy task. If he walks the boundaries of the farm's 5000 hectares, the farm will be his. It seems like a huge joke when his great grandfather tells him he doesn't even have to walk all the way round the fences. He sets out on a bright sunny day, but suddenly finds himself being swept away in a flash flood. In a time slip, Meg, the youthful spirit of his great grandmother rescues him, and Wullamudulla, the spirit of an Aboriginal boy saves them both from a bushfire. They are also walking the boundaries in their own times. They all learn something about each other. 
Sequel: Beyond the boundaries

KELLEHER, Victor 
Baily's bones  1988 
Alex and Dee's brother Kenny seems to be possessed by the spirit of Frank Baily, an escaped convict who witnessed Aboriginal people massacred in the nineteenth century. He had vowed revenge against the murderer, Walter Arnold. 12-16 

LONG, John  The Mystery of Devil's Rest 1997 
In this time-slip adventure, both indigenous and non-indigenous characters gain insights into ancient secrets of the land. 

HUTCHINS, Elizabeth  Bring back the songs 1998 
Nessa moves to the Flinders Ranges where she discovers her Aboriginal origins and helps pursue two foreign fossil thieves 11-14 

SOUTHALL, Ivan  To the wild sky  1967 
When six children are stranded on an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Carol is able to get in touch with her Aboriginal heritage (a great grandmother), something her family has urged her to keep secret. She is beautiful, cool and sophisticated, but the need to survive gives her a chance to investigate and identify with her ancestry. She becomes a leader of the group. 
Sequel: A city out of sight  1984 

FRENCH, Jackie  Rainstones  1991  9-12 

HATHORN, Libby  'Up Taree way' in Dream Time, and Top Drawer

WALKER, Kate  'A husband for Jublinka' in Top Drawer, Allan Baillie (ed.) 1992 

The ice is coming (1977) +  The dark bright water, Behind the wind
Trilogy - good versus evil.  Her hero - Wirrun - achieves his aims but there is never a clear cut winner. 

The Nargun and the stars (1988)  [a good introduction to Wrightson as an author] 
Coming to terms with his new life on a sheep-run in the mountains, Simon faces the ancient and frightening power of the Nargun 

The rocks of honey
Friendship between schoolfriends - Boney, Eustace and Winnie. Mystery surrounds a stone axe in a small country town. 

The shadows of time (1994) 
An Aboriginal boy and a young runaway servant, Sarah, gain a mystical ability to remain ageless as Australia changes, displacing the old spirits and altering the ways of the Aboriginal peoples. Time travel. 13 - Adult. APBA Design Award 

ABDULLAH, Ian 
As I grew older; the life and times of a Nunga growing up along the river Murray  1993, Tucker  1994 
Surviving as fringe-dwellers in the 1950s took intelligence, ingenuity and hard work. There was little work and no pensions. Abdullah's great paintings and accounts are accompanied by additional text by his daughter. 

CHI, Jimmy and MANOLIS, Michael  Broome songwriters 1985 
Based on the song 'Fishing' written by Michael Manolis and recorded by the band 'Kuckles', this is about Becky and Matthew, who want to be musicians, and enjoy writing songs about the sea and the land. 6-12 

EGAN, Ted  The drover's boy 1997 
Robert Ingpen illustrated the ballad which tells of the death of an Aboriginal woman who disguised herself as a stockman so that she could work alongside the drover she loved. Sorry kids; it's a love story; a tragic one. Ted Egan wrote the song to acknowledge the contribution and ability of these women. 

FITZHERBERT, Sarah  My Dreaming is the Christmas bird 1989 
Aspects of the life of Irene Jimmy, a Gurindji girl from Kalkaringi on the Victoria river. 

JONES, Elsie  The story of the falling star 1989  10-13 
A traditional story is told in the context of the community, with collages of photographs, maps, drawings and speech balloons. Winner of two design awards. 

SIMPSON, Maureen  Kathy (Co-investigators) 1988 
This Sydney teenager stops in after school at Tranby College where her mother works in the bookshop, and takes classes with the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Company. Colour photographs. 10-14 

SIMPSON, Maureen  Mindi Books  1984 several titles 10-12 

Storymakers; Percy Trezise and Dick Roughsey; A journey into Quinkin country [video] 

THIELE, Colin  Ballander boy  1979  (8-11) 

WATSON, Maureen Kaiyu's waiting (1984) 
A popular storyteller's portrayal of a Sydney girl and her family's celebration of National Aboriginal Day. Photographs. 8-12

WILLIAMS, Edna Tantjingu and Eileen Wani Wingfield Down the hole and up the sandhills  2000 autobiographical

DAVIS, Jack   A boy's life  1991 
Jack Davis recalls his life as a child on the Moore Rover Settlement and how he became a poet and dramatist. 

GILBERT, Kevin  Me and Mary Kangaroo  1994 
Gilbert recalls his boyhood living on the Lachlan River 7-12 

MORGAN, Sally  My place for young readers 1990 
Sally's story, Arthur Corunna's story, Mother and daughter

PRYOR, Boori (Monty)  Maybe tomorrow 1998 
'To feel happy about yourself, you must feel happy about the place you live in. To feel happpy about the place you live in, you must get to know that place, you must ask the people who have there the longest, the Aboriginal people. We have the key that can open the door to the treasures of this land.'

SIMON, Ella  Through my eyes 1978 
Popular with young white adults, this is the story of Ella Simon. Raised by her Aboriginal grandparents, she did not learn of her true identity until adolescence. Adult 

UTEMORRAH, Daisy  Do not go around the edges 1999 
A mix of prose, poetry and illustration. 10-13 

WHARTON, Herb  Yumba days 1999 
A biographical novel provides a picture of a tough, hard-working, rich and varied life. Herb Wharton recalls incidents growing up on the outskirts of Cunnamulla, Queensland in the Depression and then later working as a drover. As a published writer he has travelled the world but he still lives at Cunnamulla. 12 - adult 

WILLIAMS, Edna Tantjingu and Eileen Wani Wingfield Down the hole and up the sandhills  2000 picture book

Biographies
DINGO, Sally  Ernie Dingo, king of the kids  2000 
NICHOLSON, John  Kimberley Warrior; the story of Jandamarra 1997 

GILBERT, Kevin  Child's dreaming  1992   4-10
MAFI-WILLIAMS, Lorraine  Spirit song 1993 

STUART, Donald  Ilbarana: An Aborigine's story 1972   12-Adult 

Aboriginal education K-12; Resource guide NSW DET, 2003
DUNKLE, Margaret Black in focus; a guide to Aboriginality in literature for young people 1994
WHITE, Kerry et al The source in Magpies Magazine online http://www.magpies.net.au

Annotation: 
Neil is alone after the death of his much loved grandfather but when a broken leg leaves him in hospital, old Dan and he become firm friends and Dan billets Neil on his farm. Dan's kindness contrasts with his attitude to the Aboriginal family on the next farm whom Neil comes to like and respect. 

Themes in this book: 
Aboriginal peoples. Farms and farming. Friendship-aged and children. Friendship-interracial. Hate. Orphans and orphanages. Racism.