In northern Australia everything seems to hold their breath in the build-up to the big rains of the wet season. When the rains come with “lightning flashes through licorice clouds” the country changes, puddles become streams and streams become rivers. The sparse but evocative language of this picture book is written in the present tense which brings an immediacy to the impact of the rain's arrival whilst also paying homage to the life-giving force of the Wet.
Fern Martins’ beautiful double page illustrations move from large sweeping vistas of the sky to close-up images of frogs, insects and wildflowers. Big Fella Rain beautifully showcases the vibrancy of nature in Northern Australia once the rains come.
The author, Beryl Webber is a descendant of the Gunggari people of southern Queensland. She grew up on stations and has a keen awareness of when the ‘big fella rain’ was coming because it often meant that she and her family had to prepare for flooding. This is her first children's picture book. Illustrator Fern Martins is a descendant of the Ngarabul people of northern NSW and the Waki Waki people of the southern coastal area of Queensland. She has exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia and was a co-founder of Boomalli, the Sydney Aboriginal Artists Collective. She has illustrated several other children's books.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
