The Shop Train is a historical narrative that tells the story of a First Nations girl's experiences with the Tea and Sugar Train that ran across the Nullarbor Plains. The Tea and Sugar Train ran weekly, providing supplies and services to all the people and communities living along the train line. For 81 years, 1915-1996 once a week the train travelled from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie along the Trans-continental railway line. There were no towns with shops or services, so the train became their link to the outside community. The train provided the services and supplies, including medical services, banking, food and even entertainment, such as a theatre for showing films. The author's descriptive language combines with the delicately drawn pictures to create an atmosphere of community and carnival that accompanies the train.
The author uses descriptive language and literary devices such as imagery and repetition to engage the reader. The author's exquisite use of vocabulary will make this story a pleasure to read aloud and will engage children with the story. The language engages the reader's five senses with phrases such as "rumbling along the track", "ablaze with noise and heat", "grainy rice", and "bumpy dirt track", allowing the reader to join the experience of the Tea and Sugar Train. In addition, the repetition of the phrase "twisting and turning", enlarged in red, combines with the illustrations to demonstrate the use of the yandy dish.
The illustrator, Paul Seden, uses predominantly black and white drawings, occasionally adding pastel colouring to small sections of the images. The illustrations show the whirl of movement around the train, with the rush of people accessing the train's goods and services during the short visit. When drawing the train tracks and the roads, Paul Seden uses the artistic technique of linear perspective, conveying the flatness and vastness of the Nullarbor plains. The illustrations of animals and people give a great impression of movement, bringing the picture alive for the reader. The combination of black and white drawings, with the addition of pastels, provides opportunities to discuss artists' choices and could be used as an art prompt for classroom art activities.
The first part of the story focuses on the child's experience shopping on the train and the long bumpy trip home. The final third tells the story of the packages getting broken and mixed up and the mother using a yandy dish and her skills of twisting and turning to separate the food. A yandy dish is an Indigenous tool of the Pilbara region, originally used to separate hulls from grass seeds and relies on expert movement to separate the two items.
The author, Josie Wowolla Boyle, is a Wonghi Elder from the Goldfields region of Western Australia. She had first-hand experience with the Tea and Sugar Train when she was a young child. She is an acclaimed storyteller, singer, and artist. The illustrator, Paul Seden is descended from the Wuthathi and Muralag people of North Queensland. He has illustrated several children books.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
