1. Convicts
2. First contact with Europeans
3. History
4. Queensland
5. Shipwrecks
6. Survival

'Strangers on Country' describes the experiences of six Europeans who were taken in by Indigenous communities of eastern Australia between the 1820s and 1870s. The shipwreck survivors and runaway convicts stayed alive only through their hosts' care and generosity.

For each of the five episodes in this book, Dave Hartley writes a fictitious account from the Aboriginal perspective while Kirsty Murray follows with the events from the white person’s point of view. After the two accounts, a factual section relays what is known from the historical records about the tribes which were involved and what happened to the survivors after they returned to Western society.

The stories in this book are largely based on the 2016 publication Living with the Locals, by John Maynard and Victoria Haskins, also published by NLA Publishing.

Dave Hartley is descended from the Barunggam people of the Chinchilla/ Darling Downs areas of Queensland. Dub Leffler is descended from the Bigambul people of southwest Queensland.

1. Living with the locals: Six extraordinary first contact stories of friendship and survival (includes animations from an ABC series) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-06/living-with-the-locals-stories-of-first-contact-survival/9613098
2. Irma Gold interviews Dub Leffler http://www.irmagold.com/picture-book-illustration-dub-leffler/?fbclid=IwAR0bcG_-kMwiLK2bENTkjJ8BOv69_WIT_z-FPRooQ4kESqw8KQPAT4wRQ4E
3. Glen Park Primary School Teaching Notes ‘Strangers on Country’ https://glenparkps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/STRANGERS-on-COUNTRY.pdf
4. Kirsty Murray ‘Strangers on Country’ https://kirstymurray.com/books/strangers-on-country/
5. Reading Time review ‘Strangers on Country’ http://readingtime.com.au/strangers-on-country/