Muttonfish Magic

Aunty Ruth remembers a day out with her late mother and brothers at the cove near their home at La Perouse. Mummy gets the kids together to learn traditional fishing and abalone hunting and cooking ways. After a day on the rocks watching mummy work her magic, they return home with a feed for their family. A delightful and family oriented story showing the little known life and practices of people living at the first urban Aboriginal community at La Perouse.

Author Biography

Aunty Ruth Simms was born on The Reserve in La Perouse in 1941, one of nine children, and she grew up with a strong connection to both Larpa and Jerrinja cultures. She learnt about traditional bush foods, language and medicines from a young age, and went to sleep on goonjarn stories (ancient spirit stories). Today, Ruth lives in Nowra with her daughter Trudy and works as an Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO) in local primary schools. She has a Diploma of Education and is passionate about embedding indigenous perspectives into the curriculum. She is currently the longest serving AEO at the NSW Department of Education and remains a strong advocate for her people. In 2012, Aunty Ruth was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her contribution to education.

Lucy Robertson is a primary school Teacher Librarian and has always been passionate about good stories. She grew up on a vineyard and winery in Mudgee before studying journalism and creative writing, later completing an education degree after a move to the South Coast surfing village of Culburra Beach. When Lucy first started working with Aunty Ruth, she was struck by her beautiful stories of fi shing, crabbing and shell work with her family in La Perouse and The Dock in Orient Point, eventually convincing her to start writing them down for future generations.

Jasmine Seymour is a Dharug woman belonging to the Burubirangal people of the Hawkesbury area in Sydney. Jasmine is a descendant of Maria Lock through the Lock, Morley, Douglas, and Seymour families. Jasmine is a Dharug language teacher, a Dharug language activist, an award-winning children s book author-illustrator, a primary school teacher and a language researcher. Jasmine supports Australian language education for all and advocates for and promotes multilingual Indigenous Australia.