Whose Tracks are These?

This NAIDOC Week, HIPPY Australia is proud to launch its newest Age 3 storybook, 'Whose Tracks are These?'

Brought to life with bright, whimsical illustrations, Whose Tracks are These? features some of Australia’s most iconic animals and introduces us to a Yorta Yorta family exploring Country along the banks of Dhungala, the Murray River, in Echuca.

“The object of the book is to educate children about Yorta Yorta Language as well as teach them about tracking skills, which is a traditional game that Indigenous children played to learn how to track animals,”

Author Sue Atkinson-Lopez, a proud Yorta Yorta woman

“It gives children a lot of insight into the bush setting, and they can pick up little details throughout the book too, such as cockatoos thinking, a koala with a magnifying glass, magpies scattered throughout, all sorts of flora and fauna that teachers or caregivers could discuss with children.”

Sue has been involved in early childhood education for over forty years. She worked on the storybook with her cousin, illustrator Robert Barnett, who is a descendant of the Yorta Yorta Clan.

In 2017, she authored ‘Possum Skin Pedagogy: A Guide for Early Childhood Practitioners’, which supports early childhood educators to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives in education. Sue was also instrumental in developing several activities in HIPPY’s updated Age 3 and Age 4 curriculums.

Whose Tracks are These? Forms part of HIPPY’s Age 3 curriculum, with one activity dedicated to reading the storybook, and another to making ‘tracks’, designed to teach children about the traces we leave behind as we explore the world around us.