In this picture book, old Uncle Tobias goes fishing every morning, helped by two young boys aged around seven or eight years of age. Using traditional Aboriginal techniques, they catch a range of sea creatures, including skinnyfish and stingrays. When it rains, they take shelter under a bridge with a group of Indigenous ‘long-grass’ people, who sleep out on the foreshore reserves on Darwin’s urban fringe. The boys listen to Uncle Tobias’ stories of times past and later join a multicultural crowd on the beach. While the two boys are happy to move between the two worlds, Uncle Tobias stays away.
Each spread features one-two sentences of lyrical text that evoke the colours, feel and smell of the landscape. The vibrant illustrations are alive with movement and human interaction. Author Leonie Norrington grew up in the Barunga Aboriginal community, south of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Dee Huxley is a well-known children’s picture book illustrator based in Sydney.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
