1. Families
2. Memories
3. Play
4. Risk perception
5. Safety education
6. Toys

This story was prompted by a childhood memory of the author. A little girl is visiting relatives in Sydney, a landscape clearly recognisable from the beautifully drawn terrace houses. The child is entertaining herself outside in the yard and we see a variety of toys and objects that she plays with.

A man she does not know stops by the gate and asks her to open it. Trusting her instincts that this person was not someone she knew, she calls out to her Aunty and the man disappears. She is proud she has done the right thing and protected herself.

This simple story would be appropriate for teaching stranger danger and to show children how to trust their own feelings and senses.

Fay Gee-Hoy is a Kulali, Kalkadoon and Waka Waka woman from Queensland. As an adult, the illustrator, Jaquanna Elliott met her natural mother who told her of her people, the Dunghutti ‘river people’ in Kempsey NSW.

1. Kidsmartz - Rethinking Stranger Danger https://www.kidsmartz.org/StrangerDanger
2. Mamamia - Stranger Danger https://www.mamamia.com.au/stranger-danger-children/