At Bonnie’s, we recently learnt that a 6-year-old connected to our service won a writing prize for a story she wrote in the Patrick White Indigenous Writers Award!

We loved the story so much that we felt it was worth sharing on our blog. We hope you like her beautiful story about bullying as much as we do.

Swimming

Once upon a time, there lived an echidna named Evelyn. She had a long beak and sharp, pointy spines which she believed had very special powers. Evelyn thought her spines could save her from any type of danger. Her friends thought she was crazy.

One hot, dry afternoon Evelyn was feeling exhausted. She had been digging a huge burrow all day in the red dusty dirt and she needed to cool down. Evelyn waddled down to the sparkling, blue stream for a refreshing swim. The stream was right next to the dingo cave. Eddie the echidna was there with his brother Ethan. They always picked on her because she talked about her spines and their special powers. Evelyn never let the brothers upset her and she was always friendly.

As they splashed in the stream they all heard a howling sound coming from the dark, dingo cave. They looked over at the cave and saw two, orange eyes glaring at them. The eyes grew bigger and bigger as the dingo came closer. He looked hungry. Eddie and Ethan looked at Evelyn with scared faces. “Save us!” they yelled. Evelyn was not afraid because she believed that her spines could save them. Evelyn walked bravely towards the dingo with her spikes pushed outwards. The dingo was shocked when he saw Evelyn walking towards him. He ran as fast as lightning back to his cave. “I told you my spines had special powers”, said Evelyn. The echidna brothers never picked on Evelyn ever again.

Story by Tahlia (6yrs)

Blog compiled by Catherine, photo by Kristian Bell

The Aboriginal Education Centre provides the Patrick White Indigenous Writers Award