Tawny child

Featured in

  • Published 20241105
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-01-2
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook, PDF

HE CAME TO the family in early spring. Cold rain loitered across the fine dark pastoral country that had produced so much wealth for the descendants of squatters.

Standing in his doorway, Hans watched the birds returning one at a time to the bare trees on the embankment. Hans had taken possession of the property following the recent death of his father-­in-­law. He had been living in the farmhouse with his wife and daughter for years, but now he was able to look down at the trees and the birds and know they belonged to him. 

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

John Morrissey

John Morrissey is a Melbourne writer of Kalkadoon descent. His work has appeared in Overland, Voiceworks, Meanjin and the anthology This All Come Back...

More from this edition

Dominion

Non-fiction GILEAD MEMES, PLUCKED from the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale, have become a reactive go-­to for expressing horror and disgust at the disintegration of...

Palio De Siena

Poetry In the Tuscan city of Siena for seven hundred years  this annual race has run to settle rivalries between citizens of its seventeen contradas,municipal divides of  this medieval city...

The power of a curse

Non-fiction IT WAS JANUARY 1995 when my father showed me how to lay a Gypsy curse. I had just published my first novel, Crazy Paving, and...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.