Wangoolba Prince Amongst Dingoes - Fred Williams - Bog

Like a lot of stories, novels or fairy tales, Princess Kawalo is a magical spirit-like character totally created by the author. Some elements of the story came about after he was told of an old Japanese story related by a Japanese exchange student who stayed at his home for six months.

Williams loves Fraser Island and its purebred dingoes and visualized how he could develop and create a unique story blending the island and highlighting the desperate plight of the Australian dingo. The factual account of a Moha Moha sighting on 8th June 1890 by a European school teacher at Sandy Cape presented another opportunity and its integral involvement with Aboriginal culture using Wangoolba as the central character. They were all existing elements on Fraser Island used in the author's previous published works. Thanks also to Archibald Meston the Protector of Aboriginies who said a hundred years earlier (1905) in a letter to the Under Secretary for Public Lands (the first European manager on the island), "...the place names given for the first time to save them before they would be lost forever". This story seeks to preserve those indigenous names further and some proudly have been applied here for heritage and in the context of furthering learning and cross-cultural understanding. Perhaps they were elements just begging by a touch of magic to be reunited and brought together in an enjoyable mythological and understandable way. Despite dealing in parts with cultures different from our own, Wangoolba Prince Amongst Dingoes remains impressive. This is Fred's first historic novel for children and young adults and makes a further welcome and valuable contribution to that understanding.