Author(s): Christine Paice

Picture Books (Paperback)

The great whale is huge and lonely, lost in the vast oceans of the world. He encounters strange, dangerous creatures in his centuries-long search for his family. After thousands of years of futile searching, he loses heart, and stops to rest and sleep under a cliff. Now he starts to become one with the landscape and elements. His bones fuse, his skin hardens, and his body transforms into rock. He still blows his great lungfuls of air out through his body, being a living force, and the Kiama blowhole is born. Thousands of people from all over the world come to watch, unaware that the great rock whale is this force. One day he hears and sees sights and sounds that he recognises. At last he is reunited with his family of whales, as they migrate past him each year along the eastern seaboard of Australia. The Great Rock Whale is a creation story that has archetypal resonance with the idea of belonging in the world today.