The Road to Goonong

The Road to Goonong is written by David Cox. The Road to Goonong is an engaging account of a farming family and their daily life during the Great Depression and during World War II.  This picture book is a memoir, and provides a deep understanding of one boy’s daily Australian life in earlier times in engaging language and pictures that the reader can identify with. The story depicts not only the reality of living on the land with drought and little money, but also the strong community spirit when neighbours depend on each other for help.

The story is told from a young boy's perspective, in an engaging way that students can readily identify with. It captures the fun and freedom of being a child in that era as he watches timber cutters work with axes and enjoy the freedom of farm life -riding horses, milking cows and sleeping on the veranda under mosquito nets.

It is excellent for promoting further discussion on differences and continuities with students’ lives today—the family home, how they play and work, and what community they live in. Issues are sensitively portrayed in the text such as the impact of the white settlement on the local indigenous community, and the impact of drought and depression on farming families. The sensitive and quite humorous illustrations capture the different characters and the Australian landscape superbly.

This would be an effective teaching tool when studying Australian history to engage students and help them understand heritage and colonisation of local aboriginal groups. This book would be suitable for the primary years however older students could analyse the illustrations and text further to gain a better understanding of this era.