These books are a selected range of titles
focusing on issues in northern Australia.
References
Country of the Heart welcomes us into the country,
culture, lives and stories of the MakMak clan: the
white-breasted sea-eagle people (as featured in the Impacts section in
Savanna Walkabout).
"My strength. The strength of that land. You can feel it in
yourself, you belong there. It's your country, your dust, your
place." (MakMak people)
Authors: Deborah Bird Rose with Sharon D'Amico, Nancy Daiyi,
Kathy Deveraux, Margaret Daiyi, Linda Ford & April
Bright.
Lost from Our Landscape: Threatened Species of the Northern
Territory identifies these threatened plants and animals and
the problems they face.
"These species are part of our heritage, part of the unique
Territory environment; and our society has a responsibility for
sharing this land with them" (Woinarski et al. 2007).
Edited by: John Woinarski, Chris Pavey, Raelee Kerrigan, Ian
Cowie & Simon Ward
Native Plants of Northern Australia is a comprehensive
guide to plants in the Top End. This book also includes traditional
Indigenous plant use.
Author: John Brock
Termites of Northern Australia uncovers the amazing world
of termite societies and their role in the ecosystem (see Termite Trails in
Savanna Walkabout). It
also outlines some of the Aboriginal uses of termites.
In the authors' words, "this book is dedicated to the many
thousands of people who visit northern Australia each year and
marvel at termites."
Authors: Alan Anderson, Peter Jacklyn, Tracy Dawes-Gromadzki
and Ian Morris
The Nature of Northern Australia offers a synthesis of
the natural values and ecology of northern Australia together with
recommendations for actions needed to maintain these values.
" ... the land has important values that many people don’t
currently recognise—and that those values shouldn’t be
discounted or degraded through making transformations to the
landscape. .... there is an important role for Indigenous
communities, pastoralists and other land owners and managers across
northern Australia. We should be ensuring, on a national scale,
that the people that manage landscapes appropriately are
appropriately rewarded" (Woinarski et al. 2007).
Authors: John Woinarski, Brendan Mackey, Henry Nix and Barry
Traill
Narratives
Walking with the Seasons in Kakadu takes the reader on an
enchanting journey of the six seasons in Kakadu through the English
and Gundjeihmi languages.
"Each season reveals wind patterns, insects, animals, birds,
flowering and fruiting plants and some seasonal indicators that
relate to these." (Lucas, 2003)
Author: Diane Lucas
In the learning modules on this site, other Indigenous calendars
are incorporated in Join the
Researchers (Savanna Walkabout) and Outback Cinema
(Burning Issues).
Quoll was inspired by the successful Island Ark Program
which features in Join the
Researchers (Savanna Walkabout). The beautifully illlustrated
book centres on a mother quoll and her family's plight with the
cane toad invasion.
"In trying to to find out how to protect her family, she
receives council from a Thylacine spirit (he is a symbol of
extinction which threatens the Quoll) who sends her to the coast
where she finds a beautiful leaf boat and rows to safety to an
island the toads can't reach" (Kendell, 2008).
Author and illustrator: Sandra Kendell
The Barrumbi triology - The Barrumbi Kids, The Spirit of
Barrumbi and Leaving Barrumbi - entwines Indigenous and non-Indigenous characters’ lives. Through
the characters’ adventures, environmental issues,
cross-cultural education and adolescent relationships are
explored.
“'I am interested in the places where
cultures and languages meet. Especially how people use language and
story to bridge cultural differences or to make statements
about their separateness.” (Norrington)
Author: Leonie Norrington
