SARAH BANKSIA

eBook, 101 pages. Black and white illustrations and text. This is an OPERA designed to be performed on stage by children dressed up as Australian birds who sing and talk. Edith Jean Walker, (my mother) wrote and illustrated nine books and co-authored four. Three with her sister Betty Maloney who was a renowned botanical artist. Those titles became  best sellers here in Australia, and are credited with pioneering the Australian Bush Gardens movement. Edith was a ceramic portrait sculptor, a free-hand potter, a Landscape Architect, builder, art teacher and prolific letter writer.  She wrote and illustrated Sarah Banksia over a period of ten years and never saw it published. 

Sarah Banksia is a book about the greening of Australia after it broke away from Pangaea millions of years ago. In essence it describes the different energies involved in shaping the land and relates these dynamics to the circle, "Happiness is Round" which is the underlying theme of this joyous book. The book refers to the unique Australian flora and fauna and the sixty-thousand year old cultural heritage of its early inhabitants. The book delights both with illustration, uniqueness of style and deep understanding of connections to the phenology of the unusual flora and fauna of the Australian continent.