Our early-morning walk brought back echoes of Storm Boy. You remember "Storm Boy", don't you? It's the kind of children's book I wish I had been able to read when I was a boy in Germany but, of course, then the Coorong and the Murray River were, literally, still a whole world away.
"Storm Boy", the story of a boy and his relationships with his father, his pet pelican Mr Percival and a mysterious, outcast Aborigine called Fingerbone Bill, has been a favourite with children around the world since it was published in 1963. It has been translated into Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, and German, and was made into a film in 1976, starring the child actor Greg Rowe as Mike Kingsley and David Gulpilil as Fingerbone Bill.
Old age is often described as a second childhood, so I may read it again while the house is all peaceful and quiet after Padma has driven into the Bay for lunch at the Thai restaurant with her Indonesian girlfriend.
It would be perfect to stretch out in the sunshine on the verandah and listen to the audiobook but the one on YouTube is only a preview which takes you only as far as Page 17. To continue reading, click here.
(A complete reading is here, but I prefer to listen to a male voice.)
The author, Colin Thiele, was born in 1920 in Eudunda, South Australia, to a Barossa German family. The young Colin only spoke German until he went to school at Julia Creek. His first book, "The Sun on the Stubble", drew on his childhood experiences in the area's German farming settlements. It was followed by "The Fire in the Stone", "Blue Fin", and, of course, "Storm Boy". All four made it into films or television series.
This is a trailer of the original film. It's better than the 2019 remake.
