About the Author

While researching his family history the author came across, in the cemetery of the Western District town, Camperdown, a monument to the local Aborigines erected by James Dawson. His book ‘Australian Aborigines’ (1881) contained some remarkable knowledge given him, first hand, by his neighbours.

He was untrained in anthropology same as the author, who undertook a quest to find out more and discovered some very rich veins. To pass on this knowledge the author had to write a novel about a fictional Aboriginal woman who had learned English from her captors.