1. Animals
2. Behaviour
3. Bilingual books
4. Brothers
5. Death
6. Fathers
7. Fear
8. Humour
9. Indigenous languages
10. Kangaroos
11. Memories

This short chapter book is about a kangaroo called Rocky that lives near the community of Binjari (west of Katherine in the Northern Territory). Not quite a pet, Rocky is seen  as a family member. He’s a big kangaroo and quite sneaky so the children are quite scared of him.

The four short chapters tell of Rocky’s adventures up until his death. We hear how Rocky would come around demanding milk and chase the children if milk wasn’t supplied. And when one young boy wouldn’t go home to bed when told Rocky attacked him on his eventual late-night return. Sadly however Rocky was mistakenly shot, the people mourned him as he had become over the years part of the family.

Maureen Hodgson is an Indigenous author who resides in the Binjari community. She wrote her first book in Kriol in 1998.Binjari is located approximately twenty kilometres west of Katherine township in the Northern Territory. The Binjari Buk project is an award-winning publishing initiative led by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) that empowers the Indigenous women of the Binjari community to write and illustrate children’s books in their native Kriol language.

1. Indigenous Literacy Information. Binjari Book Project and Kriol Indigenous Literacy Information. Binjari Book Project and Kriol https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/site/user-assets/docs/WhyisMoliWritteninKriol_Final.pdf
2. Roper Gulf Regional Council 7 July 2017. ‘Binjari books reinforce Indigenous languages matter’ https://ropergulf.nt.gov.au/our-business/news/2017/binjari-books-reinforce-indigenous-languages-matter
3. SBS/NITV 20 Dec 2017. Binjari book buzz: Kriol stories shared in community https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/binjari-book-buzz-kriol-stories-shared-in-community/d2k028fj7