annual fishing contest heralded the start of the celebrations for the tri-annual Bunya-nut harvest. People came from all over the east coast to meet old friends and extended family and to compete. Walking south from Darumbal lands along the coastline of present day Queensland, Jundabara, his wife Niyola and Wogwun arrive to find that all is not as it seems on the surface. After several outlandish confrontations with shameless, the family must decide what is most important to them: their family, the contest, or resolving several major dangerous issues for the local elders that manage the huge gathering.
Book 4: The Ancient Omen: The Arrival
Australia, around 240BP: the ancient legend of forewarning, maintained by the infamous clan since the Dreamtime gave way to the present Dreaming has reached its maturity in Yungurra-bih-Mah’s lifetime. It tells of the arrival of a colossal tribe of pale-skinned Ghost-people: a long-lost people that had disappeared from their Dreaming cycle many, many generations earlier. This chronicle begins with this legendary warrior’s mission to Eora lands – to where the present-day city of Sydney sprawls – there, to meet with his uncle and clever-man: the infamous Pemulwuy, of the Bidjigal people. What they discover will change the people and the sacred Heart-rock lands forever.
Book 5: The Vanishing: The Rainbow Serpent’s Dance
Australia, early 1800s: for more than 165 years the disappearance of the explorer Ludwig Leichardt has remained unsolved. On his second exploration of Australia in April of 1848, in the company of five white men, two Aboriginal guides, seven horses, 20 mules and 50 bullocks, the explorer left the Darling Downs area in southern Queensland bound for Western Australia some 4000 kilometres away across ‘virgin’ deserts; where our people lived. Shortly afterward, the entire party and all stock vanished without trace. From those terrifying harsh times for our own people – the Heart-rock people – the following chronicle reveals the tale of that journey through their ancient eyes.
Book 6: The Bunya-nut Games: Booburrgan Ngmmunge
Australia, around 2014BP: the time of the great games of prowess – managed by the Kabi Kabi people of southeast Queensland. Jundabara – the Fethafoot warrior from FfC 3: The Contest – is attending the significant event with his growing son Wogwun, and his practical, often short-tempered wife Niyola. Both adults have entered one of the demanding physical contests and local kin are looking forward to the events. Between the various rough and ready competitions, including a game of full-contact Burionjin with the huge hairy-man Grok; and being surreptitiously attacked by his tiniest enemy ever – Jundabara knows that he will need every bit of training and patience to keep the peace and see his own small family group safely through the great event.
Book 7: To Save a King
January 7, 1811, Orleans County, Louisiana, United States of America: the man ran as fast as the swampy terrain, the foggy night and his laboring breath would allow. Simon: bonded slave; descendant of Haitian Kings and a sharp intelligent young mind was on the run from his Plantation manager’s grown son. When he met the strange black-skinned warrior from Australia that fateful night, everything he thought he knew about his own life: life in general, and the world around suddenly altered. That incredible night – the Fethafoot Nhompo – dispersed the power of fear that he’d lived under all of his life – and along with his timely appearance he brought the first scent of hope that young Simon had ever known.
Book 8: Galku’s Revenge
Australia, modern-day: when Detective John Pomeroy’s wife Lalaili, asked him to look into the mysterious death of young Jimmy Jungarai; an Aboriginal youth from a remote Aboriginal community in the middle of Australia’s dry Desert country, the Detective began to understand just how large his home country really was. Before long, the Detective was wondering if it was only the land that was large? Since beginning this case, his own life had become large: with ‘out-a-the-box’ situations and events occurring much too frequently for his liking. During the international investigation, Detective Pomeroy began to expand his case notes and his mind; at any and every chance that presented itself.