My Outback Childhood (younger readers): Growing up in the Territory

Toni Tapp Coutts's childhood is a girl's own adventure in the Outback, complete with red dust, snakes, goannas and nights spent in a swag, looking at the stars. Fascinating for city kids and country children alike, this is a unique story that educates as well as entertains.

There was something interesting around every corner, be it brumbies and wild donkeys disappearing through the bush, or a little waterhole where the snakes and kangaroos came to drink.

Toni's childhood isn't like other kids'. She is only five years old when her mum packs a small suitcase and takes the family over 300 kilometres on a scratchy dirt track to live at Killarney, a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory. Toni grows up among the cattle and horses, with the wild Territory climate and even wilder native animals around her. She has adventures with Old Dora and Daisy, the Aboriginal women who help raise her and her brothers and sisters. They teach her about bush tucker and tell her stories of debil debils.

My Outback Childhood is the story of Toni's unconventional upbringing on Killarney - stalking goannas, helping in the cattle yards, riding horses and sleeping under the stars. Young readers will be captivated by this true story of a childhood filled with Outback adventures. Fascinating for city kids and country children alike, this is a unique story that educates as well as entertains.