Stories about Fire, Wind, the Moon and other Dreamings: Warinypa wariny Mangunyjajamuwarr wirlarrapa wangalpa wika (Solomon Cocky, ed Barbara Hale & Inge Kral, UWA Publishing)

Stories about Fire, Wind, the Moon and other Dreamings: Warinypa wariny Mangunyjaja muwarr wirlarrapa wangalpa wika is a newly edited collection of Nyangumarta narratives by Solomon Cocky and his father. Edited by Nyangumarta elder Barbara Hale and Inge Kral, the book brings together fourteen stories first recorded in the 1970s to 1990s. Born in 1930, Cocky was a Nyangumarta storyteller from the Pilbara region of Western Australia and an integral part of the Strelley Community School, the oldest continually operational independent Aboriginal community school in Australia. Originally published to teach Nyangumarta language to the school children, these tales span both Creation Time and everyday life. They share cultural practices such as hunting, cooking and caring for Country in a way that feels natural rather than didactic. The Nyangumarta sentences printed in orange alongside English in black creates an elegant, bilingual presentation, supported by a glossary and notes on verb usage for deeper engagement. Cocky’s artwork extends and enhances the emotive text. The simple colour scheme and sparse design let the line illustrations shine. This collection marks the first time these stories have been shared with a wider audience, making this book an important historical record and a significant contemporary contribution to First Nations literature and language preservation. 

Books+Publishing reviewer: Fay Helfenbaum is a freelance writer and editor and was a bookseller for five years. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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