Bidhi Galing: Big Rain

(Hardback)

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Powerful and moving, Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) celebrates the Wiradyuri heroes of the Great Flood of Gundagai in 1852, told through the eyes of a young girl who is rescued from the raging floodwaters by her father.

Wagadhaany grew up near the Marrambidya Bila. She loved dancing in the rain and listening to her father, Yarri, tell her stories about life on Wiradyuri ngurambang.

When white people started building on the floodplains, Yarri was worried. He knew the power of the bila and tried to warn the strangers, but they would not listen.

Years later, when the big rains came, Yarri and his brother, Jacky Jacky, jumped into their bark canoes and paddled through raging floodwaters, risking their lives to save countless others.

Anita Heisss powerful text, accompanied by Samantha Campbells evocative illustrations, is a gift of Wiradyuri culture, knowledge and language, sharing a resonant message for our times.

Author Bio

Dr Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of 23 books; non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial womens fiction and childrens novels. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central New South Wales, an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the GO Foundation, and Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. Anita is a board member of the National Justice Project and Circa Contemporary Circus. As an artist in residence at La Boite Theatre, she adapted her novel Tiddas for the stage and it premiered at the 2022 Brisbane Festival. Her novel, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray about the Great Flood of Gundagai, won the 2022 NSW Premiers Indigenous Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the 2022 HNSA Prize and the ABIA Awards. Anitas first childrens picture book is Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) about the Great Flood of Gundagai. Anita enjoys running, eating chocolate and being a creative disruptor.