Author Description

This new edition of the book by Aboriginal artist Ian Abdulla was originally published by Omnibus Books in 1993. It has since become a quiet classic. Ian Abdulla's paintings and text re-create moments from his youth on the river with astonishing freshness and clarity, and offer a snapshot of an Aboriginal family living on a small stretch of the Murray River between Cobdogla and Winkie in South Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. This was a time of immense of profound environmental and social change when the assimilation policy still existed and there were few employment opportunities for Aborigines. Ian's family, like others along the river, relied on traditional Aboriginal skills to survive away from the mission and the prevailing government policy of assimilation. His personal story of survival affirms the culture of rural Aborigines who despite being dispossessed were determined to stay on the land.