Aunty Rhonda Collard-Spratt is a Yamatji-Noongar elder and Stolen Generations survivor. An accomplished author and artist, Aunty Rhonda is the co-author and artist behind Old Nana Quokka, the third instalment of the Spirit of the Dreaming series, which brings ancient Dreaming stories into today, showing that the Dreaming never ended.
Inspired by the ancient wisdom of her Noongar roots, Aunty Rhonda aims to inspire children to care for the environment and hopes to pass on the important message of listening to and learning from our elders.
In line with this year’s NAIDOC Week theme of ‘For Our Elders’, Yamatji-Noongar Elder and Stolen Generations survivor Aunty Rhonda Collard-Spratt has illustrated and co-written a new children’s book, Old Nana Quokka: Caring for Country.
How we treat our environment greatly impacts the animals that live there. Quokkas are a vulnerable species with most of the remaining population living on the spiritual Noongar land of Wadjemup (Rottnest Island). The new picture book Old Nana Quokka shares the healing wisdom of Aunty Rhonda’s ancestors and highlights the importance of caring for quokkas and all Australian bush animals for future generations.
Aunty Rhonda was inspired to write Old Nana Quokka having noticed how tourists treat our bush animals, injuring them and making them sick. In this Aboriginal Dreaming story, farting quokkas, dive-bombing seabirds and protesting snakes teach us how to look after our sacred land and its animals.
The story follows Old Nana Quokka (written as ‘Kwoka’ in Noongar), a small wallaby from south-west Western Australia. Old Nana Quokka is a healer and keeper of wisdom, and she helps the other Australian bush creatures as tourist activities, like littering and riding too fast, injure the animals and make them sick. The book teaches us that by looking after Country, Country will look after you.
The third book in the Spirit of the Dreaming series for 4–12-year-olds, after the very popular Grandfather Emu and Bobtail’s Friend, Old Nana Quokka brings an ancient Dreaming story into the modern era, creating new Dreamings for future generations. Old Nana Quokka is a story that teaches care for the land and each other. By taking only what you need and thinking of future generations, you can help all creatures survive.
Furthermore, the book challenges Australians to change their actions to better look after the Australian bush and its creatures.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Old Nana Quokka will be donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which provides books and teaches literacy to over 400 remote First Nations communities. For author-signed books, audiobooks narrated by Aunty Rhonda, fun videos and teacher notes, and to book school readings, visit www.spirtofthedreaming.com
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