The Opal That Turned into Fire: And Other Stories from the Wangkumara

by Janet Matthews, Isobel White

First Edition

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Csenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of tales and beliefs, based on fielwork going back to the 19th century, and traditions reaching back for hundreds of years. The book has a map and some pictures, but most of the stories are so intimately tied to landscape and geographical features that i wished there had been some more. The volume contains stories from multiple tribes, but other than their relative locations not much was given about them (other than the tales and beliefs, that is). The stories were well organized and well annotated. Some were quite violent, while others were strange and enchanting to the Western reader; all of them had strong visual imagery, and they features a lot of the native flora and fauna. Some stories also told about the contact between Aboriginals and Europeans, in various ways.