Our island by the children of Gununa and Alison Lester and Elizabeth Honey
Penguin, 2014. ISBN 9780670077687.
'Our island lies beneath a big blue sky,
surrounded by the turquoise sea.
Turtles glide through the clear salt water.
And dugongs graze on the banks of seagrass...'
And so begins the text of a most stunning pictorial book about
Mornington Island, the largest of the Wellesley group in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, the result of a collaboration by the children of Gununa -
the main township - and Alison Lester and Elizabeth Honey. Focusing
on the stunning wildlife that inhabits both land and sea, the
illustrations have been done by the children of Mornington Island
State School using wax crayons and food dye wash. This makes the
focal point of the pictures stand out against the background which
blurs and blends as dyes do and the landscape does. Beginning with
the sunrise and following through the day until the ghost crabs make
patterns on the sand, the local dogs sing to the moon and the island
finally sleeps, this is a celebration of life in a unique
environment where the connection between the land and life is almost
indivisible. Even though the text is kept to a minimum, the choice
of words has been carefully selected to match the pictures giving
the whole thing a poetic quality that echoes the rhythm of the day,
emphasising the gentle passage of time. Overall, a sense of peace
and pride just exudes from this book.
The stories of both the island and how this book came about are
fascinating in themselves - all royalties and a dollar from each sale
are going back to the school to fund community art projects - and
provide another layer to what is already an amazing book.
Each of us lives in a unique community, whatever its geographical
setting, that has its own special undercurrent of life that goes on
and on, providing a continuity that might be interrupted by humans
but not destroyed. How fascinating it would be to have students look
beneath the surface of their everyday lives to discover what is
there, how it is sustained, how it is impacted by us and then use
Our island as a model to share the findings. Students would have to
draw on all their senses and cross all curriculum boundaries to
discover and portray the daily, unchanging routines of nature that
cycle on through their lives.
A wonderful work that will probably make the reader want to book a
trip to an island paradise immediately!
Barbara Braxton