A mother and her two sons lived together with the older son’s two wives. The youngest son did not have any wives. When the mother sees some eagle chicks in a nest, she waits for them to grow bigger and ready to eat. The two brothers and wives are out hunting some time later and see the eagles. The youngest brother tricks his brother into climbing the tall tree-like ladder at the side of the tree to collect the eagles. Once the eagles are killed and thrown down below, the brother on the ground removes the tree, leaving his brother without help. He becomes very weak and is saved when his mother returns to check the eagle chicks. She rescues him and when he is stronger, finds his brother and two wives to seek his revenge.
Told in dual text of the Ngaanyatjarra language, this bedtime story from the childhood of author June Walkutjukurr Richards is superbly illustrated by Shane Pickett from Western Australia, in soft colours and lines evoking the central desert area of Western Australia. Included at the back of the book are notes on the language, a pronunciation guide and a translation list of words from Ngaanyatjarra to English.
'June Walkutjukurr Richards was born at Warburton in 1951 and was about three years old when her parents put her in a United Aboriginies Mission dormitory because there was no food in the bush. She was well cared for by the missionaries and attended school in Warburton. She lived with her children and husband at Warakurna Community, near the Rawlinson Ranges in far eastern Western Australia.' (Source: Magabala Books website)
Shane Pickett (deceased) was a Noongar artist who worked in a variety of mediums and forms, including watercolours on paper, gouache on paper, acrylic paint on canvas as well as producing sculptures and making prints. (Source: Magabala Books website)
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
