The other day I was pleasantly wasting time on Skylark and Son, when I came across this mention of The Quinkins, a wonderful children’s picture book written by Percy Trezise and illustrated by Dick Roughsey.
This book made a huge impression on me as a child, but until recently I’d clean forgotten all it. Immediately though, this extract brought back some pretty vivid memories sitting on the library floor, reading about the fat, squat Imjim luring away young children, only to be thwarted by the long, graceful Timara:
From the beginning, the Yalanji tribe belonged to the beautiful country of Cape York. They covered the walls of open caves with their paintings, ancestral beings, sacred animals and the Quinkins. The Quinkins, spirit people of this land, never allowed themselves to be seem by the Yalanji tribe. Yet it was known that there were two groups of Quinkins – the Imjim and the Timara. The Imjim were small fat-bellied bad fellows, with large ugly heads, long teeth and claws. They stole children and took them to their cave in the great red mountain… The Imjim had long knobbly tails that they used like a kangaroo to travel in giant leaps across the land. Timara was the name of the other Quinkins. They were humorous, whimsical spirits who liked to play tricks on people, but they didn’t like the Imjim stealing children and always tried to stop them…
Trezise, a pilot, writer, painter and explorer, was deeply passionate about Aboriginal culture and rock art, as shown by this three-part video interview on his 75th birthday.
He formed a close partnership with Aboriginal artist, Dick Roughsey, who he described as a ‘gregarious, wonderful bloke’, and together they penned several award-winning books for younger readers, including Turramulli the Giant Quinkin, Quinkin Mountain and Gidja the Moon. Roughsey also wrote another favourite of mine, The Rainbow Serpent, which won the Children’s Book of the Year Award in 1976.
Comments
24 Sep 09 at 7:07
Yes! I remember these. Like you, I have memories of reading them at the library. I am pleased to note also my local library has The Quinkins and am planning on introducing these to my children as I believe they are fantastic.
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24 Sep 09 at 9:18
Oh yes! They scared me to death – but in that good way.
I also had the Rainbow Serpent and another Dick Roughsey book, The Giant Devil Dingo.
I had to hide The Giant Devil Dingo under other books because the cover was so scary – but I loved it.
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24 Sep 09 at 16:57
THANK YOU!!! thank you, thank you, thank you
I have been trying to remember the name of this book for nigh on three years.
I loved this book as a young ‘un and the Imjim scared the bejeezus out of me.
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24 Sep 09 at 21:05
elaine that’s one of the best responses I could have asked for! I get irritated enough when I can’t remember a word for a day, but three years tops it. Glad to have helped.
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01 Jul 10 at 21:34
I also loved these books as a child and was deliciously scared by them. I now have the fun of introducing them to a whole new generation of kids in my Yr 3 class. They are just as intrigued by them as I was.
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09 Sep 10 at 4:27
We named our second daughter Leealin after reading this book to my elder daughter. Some years later, I found in a bulanji dictionnary that Leealin means “young daughter”.
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16 Sep 10 at 21:22
DOes anyone remember The Hobiard?? I don’t know if that’s the right spelling—I was achild when I read it in the school library. It seemed to be about a Timara that was trying to steal a family, and the pet dog kept barking to alert the farmer, but the famrmer kept punishing the barking dog by removing its limbs. In the end, the hobiard has taken the whole family in a sack to a cave. I can’t recall the rest, and sadly, this book doesn’t come up when Googled! I’d love to find it.
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16 Oct 10 at 15:53
Ingrid I think you mean the “Hobyahs”. My dad used to read that story to us all the time and poor little dog dingo was just trying to protect his family. I have twin month old daughters and I can’t wait to read them the rainbow serpent and the Hobyahs
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09 Jan 11 at 19:19
I loved these books as a child. I absolutely adored the Quinkins – one of my most favourite books ever. Every now and then I have a hunt to see if there’s a copy i can buy for my kids to read. So far nothing. 🙁 I could always remember the Imjim, but could never recall the name of the others – i thought they were “quinkin” but now i see where my wires were crossed – thanks so much for posting this.
I loved the devil dog one too, our school library had it, and it was WILDLY popular. Everyone got the jitters from that big dog – that thing is scary.
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26 Mar 11 at 4:43
Turramulli The Giant Quinkin was another book. I first read it when I was three and it scared the hell out of me. I literally couldn’t sleep for months as a kid.
I also drew of picture of Turramulli, the Imjin Quinkins and the people in the story, and still have the framed picture to this day.
Turns out Turramulli is likely to have been a Gigantopithecus, a real 3m tall hairy ape like creature surviving until as recently as a couple hundred thousand years ago.
Anyway, love the series of books and so glad so many others do as well.
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04 Oct 11 at 23:58
Stewart! Thank you thank you thank you! That’s it! The Hobyahs!! I’d love to get the book, read it to my nieces. I don’t know how this generation of kids would handle these beautifully dark tales considering how sanitised their viewing is.
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06 Feb 12 at 23:41
I also was trying to remember the Timara after I saw a picture of some tall ghostly figures in a news article. Such a strange trigger! I had forgotten about these books, I must have read quite a few Roughsey books as a kid. Thank you for posting this and solving my memory lapse 🙂
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28 Dec 12 at 13:19
I’ve been trying to remember this too!! Loved this book as a kid, and the rainbow serpent. I’ve been trying to remember so I can read it to my girls, although it did used to scare me too. Thanks
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22 Jan 13 at 10:01
‘Banana Bird and the Snake Men’ was also a great read. All these books were very thought provoking and often contained morals that would not be recognised by most children.
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24 Jan 13 at 22:24
I think I have found the book I have been searching for since I went to pre-school…is this the book where the hairy cave painting comes to life or something?
I’m talking nearly 30 years ago now, it was my favourite book when I was 4 and I remember my Mum couldn’t understand why I loved it so much!
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04 Mar 13 at 18:59
WOnderful books – introduced to them by an Australian librarian friend. Our kids were entranced and terrified by them – particularly Turramulli the Giant Quinkin “Wonk Wonk”-ing his way through the landscape and their dreams. These are cautionary tales of the highest order.
Such power in Dick Roughsey’s paintings and such respect and love in Percy Tresize’s storytelling.
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04 Mar 13 at 19:01
Ooops = that should be Trezise
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16 Jul 13 at 20:11
I have bought my 10 year daughter all the books I remember as a child. I have bought rainbow serpent stories. And told her after I read them that I had a different rainbow serpent when I was her age, and told her about he quinkins, but I always told her the imjin were the good…. Oops.
Are they still in print they are a must.
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18 Aug 13 at 20:11
yeh yehh hi were is the es of the story
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22 Aug 13 at 15:33
hahahahha we did this in school in the 90s good to see people stillremember
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30 Aug 13 at 16:16
My god I do remember this book. It had a major impact on me as a kid. For some reason I took to calling them the winkin wilkens, so I’ve had to stretch the limits of my Google-fu to find them again. I’m teaching English in Japan and thought it would be cool to teach them one of the dreamtime stories if I get the chance.
Thanks for helping me find this book again.
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23 Jan 14 at 22:10
This is fantastic! A book that both enthralled me and scared me to death as a child! What an amazing book looking back…
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17 Mar 14 at 13:53
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
Quinkins are funny
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17 Mar 14 at 13:54
oops didn’t mean to post so many! 🙂
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17 Mar 14 at 13:58
Does anyone remember the names of the kids in The Quinkins? I’ve forgotten them and have been trying to remember for 4 YEARS!!!!!!!!!! Quinkin Mountain is another good book by Percy that I loved. The Timara have a strange comforting yet eerie effect on me (which is why I love them). I think it would be great if percy made some books about The Timara tricking people. 😉
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31 Mar 14 at 20:40
YES! Have just watched the story of Percy Tresize and his family on ABC’s Australian Story. The Quinkins were favourite stories for my children and the illustrations are wonderful. Let’s hope these marvellous sites can be well protected from the greed of the mining companies.
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01 Apr 14 at 15:30
Yes I remember meeting Percy and his friend when they came through Albury NSW promoting their books and telling incrediable stories of the dreamtime. I bought both books at the time for my children when they were tiny takkers. Iremember that they signed those books for the people who bought them. I do believe my children still have them today. Will be catching up tomorrow with some of them and will have a can you remember talk with them when they arrive. The family may be able to get some help through the sea shepherd people, they are tremendous with their knowledge and will certainly be able to steer in the right direction to stop these mining leeches. I am so glad I was able to watch the show on the ABC . Thankyou
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04 Apr 14 at 15:37
I remember my dad bringing these home from The Department of aboriginal Affairs where he worked. My sister and I loved them as kids. Sadly, it looks like all Roughsey’s books are out of print. I particularly loved the Giant Devil Dingo. Someone really must republish these great stories so a new generation of Aussie kids can learn them.
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04 May 14 at 21:31
I borrow as many of Percy’s books as I can find from our local library for my son who is 5. We found them about a year ago and he is obsessed with them and wants to re-borrow them every time. Great classics are timeless it seems.
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