It is the 1830”s during the Black Drive in Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost island territory. Manganinnie, a palawa Aborginal woman of the Big River People, finds herself separated from her people. It is like they vanished in thin air!! She thus begins a lonely journey looking for any survivors of her clansmen.
Manganinnie is given the gift of the little white girl, Jo Jo, whom she rescues when the girl wanders away from her brothers while on an outing in the bush. Sharing a unique bond of love with the girl whose hair is the colour of Ballawainnie, the scared red ochre, gives Manganinnie the hope she needs to fulfill her role as teacher of Common Knowledge.
Follow their amazing journey, as they traverse the Tasmanian countryside. The story magically submerges the reader into how life was for the original inhabitants of this unique island before colonization.