Father Sky and Mother Earth had four children, and after they were born the two of them never lived together again. Their four children were Sun, Moon, Sea and Rock. This picture book details the creation of plants and animals by these four offspring, as each of them creates servants to populate their part of the world. The story explains how each servant interacted with others, how they created a complex and interconnected web of existence.
Father Sky, Mother Earth, their children and their children's servants lived in peace and happiness in the beautiful world they had created. Until one day a Human Animal appeared, unlike anything they had seen before. Human Animals were destructive, polluting, and all the world suffered. One day however, Human Animals began to notice what they had done, and they worried. They had meetings about it, put up signs and wore badges to show their worry. Some of them started cleaning up the world. Eventually perhaps Father Sky, Mother Earth and all their children will be as bright and clean as they were in the beginning.
This is a longer than usual picture book, with more pages and more text than the standard. Each opening has the text on one side and the illustrations on the other. The illustrations are done in a style reminiscent of primary school art. The media used - coloured markers - reinforces this impression. Some of the illustrations incorporate Indigenous Australian motifs. Oodgeroo is of the Noonuccal people of North Stradbroke Island.
‘Father Sky and Mother Earth’ has been republished in hardback and labelled ‘Australian Classic 40 Years’. There is a fresh appearance to this classic with the font now larger and placed on the page so that it more readable for a young audience. The ISBN for this new edition is 9780730391135.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
