Black Cockatoo & Dirrarn

By: Carl Merrison, Hakea Hustler

Narrated by: Haylee Rivers

Black Cockatoo

Black Cockatoo is a vignette that follows Mia, a young Aboriginal girl as she explores the fragile connections of family and culture. Mia is a 13-year-old girl from a remote community in the Kimberley. She is saddened by the loss of her brother as he distances himself from the family. She feels powerless to change the things she sees around her…until one day she rescues her totem animal, the dirran black cockatoo, and soon discovers her own inner strength.

Dirrarn

We first met Mia in Black Cockatoo, as she navigated her way through culture, Country and familial ties. Dirrarn follows Mia as she finds herself at boarding school and the challenges of living thousands of kilometres away from home, family and the big sky country she loves. Mia along with her best friend, Naya, negotiate new friends, new ways of thinking and new ways of being in a different world. As Mia wrestles with all that is unfamiliar, she soon must learn to stand in her truth when confronted with unending challenges.

2019, Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Younger Readers, Nominated

2019, Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Small Publishers' Children's, Short-listed

2019, Speech Pathology Australia, Winner

2019, Queensland Literary Awards, Winner

2024, Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Younger Readers, Nominated

©2022, 2023 Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler (P)2024 Bolinda Publishing