AustLit

As George Skeene explains 'I wanted to write this story on the Aboriginal Camps and Reserves and their people because up until this time, there has not been a lot written about their inhabitants. I wanted to include the people who visited there too, to show their descendants that their Grandparents and Great-Uncles were visitors to the camps, or at some times, lived there, and to show the wider population how the Camps and Reserves functioned, including the day to day life of the people who lived there. '

Skeene 'describes with great humour and sensitivity the joys and pains of his early childhood, his school years, and his working life in various jobs, but especially on the railways, much of it at his father's side. Skeene recounts stories such as 'old man crocodile', 'black tongued lizard' and 'mother black bream and the spotted eel' that were told to him as a child by his elders. He also tells of cultural practices and beliefs that were part of life on the Cairns reserves, many of which continue today.' Source: Two Cultures: Children from the Aboriginal Camps and Reserves in Carins City (2008)