The First Voyage Page 12

‘Shufflewing,’ Waterlily says simply.

  ‘Yes,’ The Wind says and watches the bird as it climbs the air from the grass towards the red ridge, and then she gasps. ‘Look! Look!’ she shouts.

  She is pointing at several whispers of smoke on the long coast.

  Brown Moss stares at them, counts them and slowly starts smiling. ‘They made it.’

  And that changes everything. We might not meet those Yam people for a long time, but now we know that they are here.

  Burnt Earth says, ‘Wonder how those giants taste . . .

  Fast Fish laughs and points his spear at the gliding eagle. ‘Thank you, old friend.’

  He looks at me and I look back. ‘We will not see the other side of this land; nor will Thunderbird, or her son . . . But it will be a great journey.’

  Aborigines probably went from Timor to a single vast land mass called Sahul, which became the land from New Guinea to Tasmania. Their voyage was about twenty kilometres from Timor to their landing near northern Australia. Other aborigines walked from New Guinea. Both spread across the land – including Tasmania.

  And then the Ice Age came and went as Earth warmed, the ice melted and the water flooded the Gulf of Carpentaria and Bass Strait, changing the coast to what is Australia today.

  Today, the giant animals are gone . . . Thunderbird, or mihirung (the scientific name is Genyornis), and monster lizard (Megalania) are now extinct, although Megalania is closely related to the big goannas around today. Goanna means ‘big lizard’.

  Those giant kangaroos and wombats also died out, but their relatives are still alive in present-day Australia, only smaller and with a few differences.

  But the tribe who named the wombat is not around now, and we don’t know what the word means.

  Long Island is Flores, Lembata, Pulau Alor, Ataura, Palau Wetar.

  Bird Island is Timor and Timor-Leste.

  The Yam camp is Ponta Deiludun.

  Snake River is around the village of Beacu.

  Sleeping Turtle Mountain is Gunung Matebeanfeto Mountain

  Angry River is River Bebar

  Crocodile River is River Irobera

  Monkey River is River Veva

  Climbing Perch Mountain is Gunung Lagumuo Mountain

  Lizard Mountain is Gunung Lalaho

  Bird Lake is Danau Ira Lalaro

  Rat Cave is Lene Hara

  I am grateful to Brian Monaghan for his help in Timor.

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  First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2014

  Text copyright © Allan Baillie, 2014

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