Arnhem's Kaleidoscope Children

It was hot with stillness in the late afternoon air. The billabong surface shone with unnatural stillness, Fresh tracks at water's edge told of pigs just gone. Two bubbles popped to the surface of the pool; 'decaying vegetation" I thought. I should have known it was a crocodile before too late! Landscape of Crocodile Dundee: story of a family in a remote aboriginal community in Northern Australia. Arnhem's Kaleidoscope Children is a remembered story of a family's life in a distant world. The place, Oenpelli, in Australia's Northern Territory, is like remote Canada or Alaska, where few others go. It is the landscape of myriad hues of billabongs, open grass plains, sunlit hills and purple storms, peopled by its many coloured children. It is a story of a changing world; how a missionary family and aboriginal community became part of modern Australia over 50 years. What is it about the Northern Territory that fascinates? I have only to mention it's name in conversation and people turn to listen. Why, for 180 years, has it drawn people from all over to come, stay longer than they imagined and, often, never leave? This book is a memoir of a family's life in a remote aboriginal community, in Australia's Northern Territory, something the equivalent of remote Canada or Alaska, where few people go. The place Oenpelli,(now Gunbalanya) is near Kakadu National Park, made famous in Crocodile Dundee. This story tells of changing world as a missionary family and an aboriginal community become part of modern Australia.