Joe Willigan Ross and his partner, Stacey Bush, wrote this story, which belongs to the Danggu people of the Fitzroy Valley. The illustrations were created by their two children. The story reveals how fire came to be shared amongst those living around the Fitzroy Valley which is 2500 km north of Perth and 400 km east of Broome, in the remote West Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Greedy Old Man Crocodile (Lallanggarra) selfishly refuses to share fire with the Danggu people. Instead, he hides the fire in a great big burning log beneath water while the animals on land shiver in the cold and miss the light. Brown Falcon (Girrganyi) notes the problem and concocts clever plans to share fire with all that need it.
The story begins: ‘Long, long ago in the Dreamtime, in the flowing water of Bandaralngarri, lived Old Man Crocodile’. He kept fire hidden in a great big burning log which he refused to share. All the others living in Danggu suffered in the dark and cold.
Brown Falcon assesses the problem, decides it is time for fire to be shared, and so asks each young animal to take a fire-stick away from Old Man Crocodile. Little Barramundi replies that he is unable to come out of the water. Little Olive Python is not able to carry a fire-stick. Little Sand Frog is not strong enough to lift a fire-stick. Little Emu is too scared and Little Nail-Tail Wallaby is unable to swim under water to retrieve the fire-stick. What is the solution? Brown Falcon creates a clever ruse conveyed to Little Olive Python who then shares the plan to the other animals.
All the animals will gather at Danggu to dance and sing together at the next full moon. Their antics will lure the curious Old Man Crocodile away from his fire so Brown Falcon can steal it away. All the animals dance and sing a rhythmic, rhyming refrain, which captures the crocodile’s attention.
The ruse works! Curious Old Man Crocodile emerges from the river while Brown Falcon dives into the river and retrieves a burning fire-stick. Old Man Crocodile is very angry but to no avail. The young ones can now dance to the warmth of the fire that spreads across Bunuba country for all to enjoy.
The authors’ children have created each of the five animals featured in the story. Each animal is drawn on white paper in simple line then set against watercolour wash backgrounds featuring swirling, textured and varied coloured backgrounds. The text appears in white set against a green strip that gently weaves across the bottom of each page.
Reddish-brown endpapers introduce our cast of young characters— Little Barramundi, Little Olive Python, Little Sand Frog, Little Emu, Little Nail-Tail Wallaby with Falcon occupying a central position as the story’s instigator of action. Viewers thus view the cast of characters inviting them into this story about sharing of fire.
A QR code on the title page enables listeners to hear the story in both Bunuba and English as read by Joe Willigan Ross and Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar. According to Wikipedia, the Bunuba language is spoken by some 41 older adults living in Junjuwa, an Aboriginal community in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia. According to the 2021 census, there are 150 native speakers of Bunuba.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
