Strangers On Country
Imagine you find a stranger on your favourite beach. They are pale, starving, desperate for shelter and speak a language you can’t understand. Despite your fears, you treat them with kindness. You feed them and comfort them. They become like family to you and learn how to live on country.
‘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’ generosity.
Too often Australian history is told only from a European perspective. Imagining events from both Indigenous Australian and European perspectives, the authors have brought to life remarkable true stories that inspire connection and understanding.
See Teachers Notes
Awards
CBCA Book of the Year Award - Eve Pownall Award for Information Books - Shortlist 2021
Reviews
Strangers on Country is a fantastic book. The authors Dave Hartley and Kirsty Murray, and the illustrator Dub Leffler have really made the stories come to life. The details in each of the five stories, and the beautiful illustrations, have a magical way of transporting the reader back in time.
Booktopia Customer Review
This is an interesting and fascinating account of largely unknown castaways taken in by various local indigenous tribes on the east coast of Australia in the Torres Strait and Queensland. The use of the dual narrative approach is innovative and insightful, and the overall presentation is excellent.
Lynne Babbage - Reading Time
Behind The Book: Strangers on Country
Here you will find research, notes and photographs that went into the creation of the book.
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Strangers on Country at The Little Bookroom
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