This is an edited extract from Gularabulu: Stories from the West Kimberley by Paddy Roe, edited by Stephen Muecke, published November 2016 by UWA Publishing.

Paddy Roe is celebrated as a storyteller in the great tradition of literature on the Australian continent, where each of the two hundred or so language families has its traditions of oral literature that go back many millennia. But what is generally recognised as ‘Australian literature’ is a recent branch of written English literature brought in by the colonists. So while Indigenous communities have maintained their ancient heritage in various types of song, performances, and epic narratives, it is overlaid by this new thin layer. Many Indigenous artists of the word continue their oral traditions as best they can under conditions of continued occupation of their lands, while others, educated in white schools, have taken up writing in English and making an impact in Australian literature.