This is so much more than a book about bushrangers who robbed stagecoaches during the Australian Gold Rush period of the 1850s. Neridah McMullin weaves other dangers into her story such as riding at night over poorly defined tracks, the danger from broken brakes, wildly stampeding horses, and the low visibility of a single lantern. The story pace is set by the urgency to arrive on time and the urgency to arrive before the new baby is born. Then there is the urgency to escape from the bushrangers and their guns. The coach really is a tearaway.
The story also explores the relationship between Cabbage Tree Ned, the coach driver and Fen, his young passenger and it also hints at the caring relationships in Fen’s own family when his father pays extra for Fen to ride next to the driver and when we see the family reunited in Geelong.
The illustrations move between full page spreads and small vignettes and the text uses different fonts for emphasis and to highlight two important introductions – meeting Edward Devine or Cabbage Tree Ned and meeting the new baby.
The cover illustration is taken from the text and perfectly shows an Australian outback scene. The dust blowing behind the coach reinforces the speed of the coach with bounding kangaroos matching the pace of the team of horses. The illustrations were created with pencil, charcoal pencil, watercolour, pastel and Procreate. The sense of time is created by changes to the background colours and the sky which gradually turns blue as the night moves into day. Use of capital letters for the sounds such as the bang of the gun, the clip clop of the horses and the commands to the horses add to the drama of the story making it a perfect one to read aloud.
End notes provide extra details about the Cobb and Co coaches that travelled from Ballart to Geelong and the hazards they faced. Cobb & Co was an important stagecoach business operating in NSW and Queensland as well as Victoria. Brief details are also given for Edward Devine who was a famous coach driver of the period.
Picture Books for Older Readers
