“On Christmas Day us girls got a parcel from the Lutheran Church with three dresses and three undies. You should have seen the joy on our faces when we put on those second-hand dresses. We were so happy.”
Wanda Gibson is a Nukgal Wurra elder and artist, who grew up on Hope Vale Mission in Far North Queensland.
Every Christmas, Wanda and her sister would receive three second hand dresses from the mission. This story is about the joy those dresses brought her, and how they were cherished and looked after.
After Christmas, Wanda’s family would holiday at the coast for two weeks. Wanda always took her three dresses, so she had one to wash, one to wear and one spare. As Wanda and her family enjoy their beach holiday, the three dresses become both a symbol of her family’s poverty and their riches. As they sleep outside in their gunyah, harvest the plentiful seafood and share their stories around the fire, Wanda and her family have everything they need. But most precious of all is their freedom, as they enjoy two weeks off the strict mission schedule.
This book won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award this year. There’s a lot to love – its authentic Aboriginal voice, joyful illustrations and heartfelt appreciation of the simple things in life. For me, the insight it gives into another time and place were also invaluable.
When I read it with my nine-year-old, she had a lot of questions that took a bit of explaining – ‘What’s a mission, Mum?’ – so I think it’s a book you might need to read more than once to fully appreciate.
– Katrina Roe, RRL
