Me and Mary Kangaroo
A celebration of a special friendship, Me and Mary Kangaroo is a story for all ages, a lyrical, moving tale to be shared again and again. 'This delightful reminiscence of a childhood has the irrepressible spontaneity and fluency of a much loved tale ... an ageless book.' - Magpies. Shortlisted for the 1995 Australian Multicultural Children's Literature Award (Junior Section). First published in hardcover by Viking in 1994 in softcover by Puffin Books in 1996. eBook, paperback and hardback available from Amazon Books from 1 June 2025.
I remember all those things,
like magic moths with rainbow wings
and spider webs with pearly due,
but the memory I love most
is when I was a little boy
and used to play with my friend
Mary Kangaroo...
Now Mary was an orphan, she had no mum or dad. My father found her in the bush, lost, all alone and sad. Just a little fuzzy fizzball of a kangaroo with long ears and elongated feet. Dad wrapped her up in his big wool coat and bought her home to tea. A tiny cuddly kangaroo.
Such a happy boy was me, and Dad said she was to live with us forever. I quickly made her a warm bottle of our old cow Roany’s milk, then stroked her soft-as-silken fur, until she fell asleep.
Morning tea came only once a day ay our house (it should have been at least twice) so we weren’t going to miss out and we never did, not ever. Morning tea was our special meal, not only for scones and things, but also for sampling the lunch goodies: damper, cold meats, currant cake, cream and sometimes cordial made fro, hops, which my mum made, saying it would help me catch up with Mary.
Bellies full, we waddled outside to sit and play in the beautiful hot sun eastward of the house, where Mary had her dustbath bed. It was just a place where the red earth dust was softer and deeper, where we’d lie down to talk and giggle. At the bottom of the dustbed we hid our treasures and money: cat’s-eye marbles and conkers ans glassies and steelies. Our money was ha’pennies, pennies, threepenny bits, sixpences and shillings, and several coins of Chinese money with square holes cut in the middle, which Ah Gong gave us.
Mary Kangaroo stretched out for a snooze. While she slept, I dusted off the money and I giggled to myself, for I had thought of the safest warmest place in the world to keep our cash, in a hopping kangaroo bank. When Mary woke up she was tickled pink with the idea and helped me carefully fill her pouch.