CEO Reads: Song of the Crocodile

Song of the Crocodile was the winner of the 2018 black&write! writing fellowship. These Fellowships are open to all writers — published and unpublished — of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent currently living in Australia. Author, Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman living in Sydney, and Song of the Crocodile is her first book. 2020 also saw Nardi debut her first play at the Sydney Festival. Song of the Crocodile has been shortlisted for the NSW Premiers' Literary Awards for the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize, and shortlisted for the 2021 Indie Book Awards Debut Novel Category. So you can see why it was a must read on my list for this year.

Song of the Crocodile is a multi-generational story set in the fictional remote town of Darnmoor, where the Yuwaalaraay people live. Depicted as a drab gateway town where people pass through, it has a ‘bleeding and dead centre’ marked by a whitewashed war memorial. Darnmoor exists with a de facto apartheid in place, where Indigenous families eke out a living under the heel of the resentful white residents who consider them a disgrace to the town. This is delicately drawn out by Simpson, but no less confronting for the reader.

Outside the town, a bush track leads past the rubbish tip to the banks of the Managamange River to the aboriginal settlements known as the Campgrounds, home to the Billynil family. We follow the lives of the Billynil family, starting with Margaret, then her daughter Celie, then Celie's daughter Mili, followed by Mili’s husband Wil and their children Paddy and Yarrie. Simpson has beautifully integrated Dreamtime Stories within this novel, weaving the past, the spiritual connection with the land, and the present into her characters’ lives. It is filled with sorrow, regret, pain, mistakes, anger and pure injustice. Yet it is also hopeful, lyrical, filled with traditional folklore, stories, culture and traditional language, focusing on the influence of elders past who help guide the Billynil family through the challenges they face. Even though their lives are made difficult by the town residents, the family’s love for each other and the land is clearly demonstrated throughout. Weaving culture through stories, language and lore, links the generations and, generously shared by the author, we as readers are introduced to the Yuwaalaraay lore and culture through the novel.

For those wanting to know more about our First Nation's culture, to be challenged about the myth of the tolerant Australian way of life, and to immerse themselves in a family saga, then this is definitely the novel for you.

Nardi Simpson: www.nardisimpson.com