This book is the first in the ‘First Peoples – First Sciences’ series. The series blends science with the deep connections and knowledge Indigenous Australians have to the natural world.
In The First Sunrise we sit beside a fire warming a campsite where an Indigenous elder is telling two children the story of how we got the first sunrise.
Emu and Kangaroo roam across the country. There is no time. No day, no weeks or months. When a voice booms out from the sky they get a terrible fright. The voice belongs to Mulungh, the great creator. He gives Emu and Kangaroo a very important job.
Mulungh draws a bent shape in the sand and tells them to find a stick in that shape. Mulungh shows them how to shape it into a boomerang and tells them if they throw it, that it will return. And that if they throw it and hit just the right spot that something huge will happen.
Kangaroo and Emu practise throwing the boomerang, honing their throwing skills until Kangaroo takes a deep breath and throws harder and further than ever before. Suddenly their world changes.
This is a very beautiful story. The illustrations are superb, with Kangaroo and Emu’s sense of wonderment palpable as they watch the first sunrise, and they discover their shadows which they cannot run away from.
Alongside the story the pages are laced with science, showing us that the kangaroo and emu didn’t always look like they do, instructions on throwing a boomerang and why its shape makes it return. We learn about the sun, where it rises and sets, why we have night and day and more.
Very well done.
Reviewed by Jane Stephens
Age Guide 4+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Vanessa Stevens is a Mbarbaram, Yidinji and Taribalang Bunda woman, Traditional Owners of the Tableland Region, Cairns and Bundaberg areas of Queensland.
She was a primary school principal and an educator for more than 30 years.
Paul Seden is descended from the Wuthathi and Muralag people of North Queensland. He grew up in Darwin and he loves to draw and tell stories.
Paul works as a Fisheries Officer and he is inspired by the adventures he has with his family in the creeks around Darwin. Crabbing with Dad is the first book he has both written and illustrated.
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