Children of the Desert by Phyl and Noel Wallace

Children of the Desert

by Phyl and Noel Wallace

Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1968, [First Edition], colour and black and white photographs throughout, photographic double title page, photographic endpapers, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners’ inscription on half title page, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, chipping and tears, larger tears at back (see photographs)

“Children of the Desert is an apt description of the children of the Pitjantjatjara people, for this tribe still live their nomadic lives in the heart of Australia, their only contact with the white man or the white man’s civilisation being the missionaries, the welfare officers and the passing anthropologist.
Through this book Phyl and Noel Wallace share with us their discoveries about these aborigines and, more especially, their children.  While the parents under the influence of their dreamtime continue the age-old pursuits of food-gathering and building wiltjas, of corroboree and walkabout, many of the children now go to school where the music of the corroboree may have a very unfortunate influence over the white man’s mathematics! In drawing classes, however, the tow worlds meet and the pictures created by the children from lives where the aeroplanes jostles the evil spirit, mamu, and the ideograms of the cave paintings mingle with closely observed portraits of trucks, are most fascinating works of art.”

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