“When we picked up my dad at his office he said that I couldn’t play with his copying machine, but I forgot. He also said to watch out for the books on his desk, and I was careful as could be except for my elbow. He also said don’t fool around with his phone, but I think I called Australia. My dad said please don’t pick him up anymore. ”
“That’s what it was, because after school my mom took us all to the dentist and Dr. Fields found a cavity just in me. Come back next week and I’ll fix it, said Dr. Fields. Next week, I said, I’m going to Australia.”
“I hope you sit on a tack, I said to Paul. I hope the next time you get a double-decker strawberry ice-cream cone the ice cream part falls off the cone part and lands in Australia.”
“Bertie, in 1918, has a brother who has lost a leg due to the War.
Benjamin, in 1858 was actually born in San Francisco. His family came here because of the gold rush.”
“We go back to Barangaroo, in 1788, who is staying here with her Aborigine tribe.
These brief synopses do nothing to impart the warmth, charm and humour of these write ups….”
“Sam, in 1798, is an eleven year old convict, sent to Australia from England for stealing a jacket because he was cold. He works for Mr. Owen, who sometimes beats him.”
″..as the landscape changes from a modern built-up townscape, through to farm land, and finally back to the wilderness of the aborigines. The one thing that stays constant is a much loved old fig tree.”
“Starting in 1988 and going back 200 years, we are told the history of Australia by being told the history of one particular place, told by the generations of children who have lived in that one spot. ”
“The book spans two centuries, from 1788 to 1988, and covers the same quarter acre of land – as we see how it has changed throughout this period. This is done via the voices of the children living there, and we visit them in 10-yearly intervals to learn about their lives and situations. The book travels backwards through time.”
“They ate Anzac biscuits in Adelaide, mornay and Minties in Melbourne, steak and salad in Sydney and pumpkin scones in Brisbane. Hush remained invisible.”
“While Dad often made wisecracks about his origins, he always promised that one day the four of us would visit Australia, maybe even stay for a while.”
“But in Australia a model child is - I say it not without thankfulness- an unknown quantity. It may be that the miasmas of naughtiness develop best in the sunny brilliancy, of our atmosphere. It may be that the land and the people are young-hearted together, and the children’s spirits not crushed and saddened by the shadow of long years’ sorrowful history.”
Soon, it also becomes clear that they are up to no good. After much spying and some consulting of the library shelves, Henni and her friends prove that the Phonies, as they are now called, are money launderers.
The boy living on the streets, seeking companionship and the need to protect (possibly the way he wasn’t), jealousy of a well looked after cat with a home, the use of crumbled up (thrown away) paper at the beginning and end of the book.
“If Albert was right and they were only schoolgirls about the same age as his sisters in England, how was it they were allowed to set out alone, at the end of a summer afternoon? He reminded himself that he was in Australia now: Australia, where anything might happen. In England everything had been done before: quite often by one’s own ancestors, over and over again.”
The goods train snaked across the vast southern desert of Australia. Sylvie stood waiting for it to bring the weekly provisions to the tiny settlement.
“In China they killed all the sparrows. In Australia they killed all the rabbits. Everywhere man killed all wild life. Soon there was none, and all the birds were poisoned. Leader man said ‘At last! We are free of pests.‘”
“Typical boys’ adventure story telling of a young Norwegian cabin boy, who decides to jump ship when his ship reaches Australia, and the adventures he has once there.”
″ After a further brush with the mate who tries to recapture him, he finds a home and a new life. Written in 1973, this is a typical boys’ adventure yarn.”
“What reasons?” said Audrey lightly.
“Never mind what reasons. Being in the place of a mother to you, since your poor mother died, I say this, Audrey—when a gentleman goes to Australia, he has his reasons.”