This is the story of an old lady and her family going fishing in the billabong. She wants to catch some jarrampa. She sits very still in the shallow water and places meat between her toes soon the jarrampa smell the meat and begin pinching her toes with their sharp claws soon there was a ‘big mob’ of jarrampa, and she put them in a bucket and cooked them up for dinner. ‘It tasted good.’
‘Jarrampa’ is the Walmajarri word for cherubin or giant freshwater prawn. They have been part of the diet of Indigenous Australians across Northern Australia for thousands of years.
Walmajarrri woman Marshia Cookku created this book in a workshop facilitated by ILF ambassador Alison Lester and Jane Godwin in 2021. The illustrations were created by her daughters Tamua Nuggett and Cazarus Baker.