Something came on the radio when I was in the car this morning that sent tingles down my arms.

It’s a new rendition of Paul Kelly’s classic, From Little Things Big Things Grow, released today, that celebrates the apology to the Stolen Generations on 13 February 2008. It’s a pretty amazing production, featuring Kev Carmody, Paul Kelly, Urthboy and Missy Higgins, as well as excerpts from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology and former-PM Paul Keating’s Redfern speech. (The idea sprang from the much-played, even here in Australia, Yes We Can Obama song.) You can purchase and download a copy of From Little Things Big Things Grow here to help make it a hit and give it maximum exposure.

I’m really keen to introduce some more Aboriginal picture book stories into Rowan’s bookshelf. We have a copy of Elaine Russell’s vibrant A is for Aunty, an alphabet book which features things that Elaine remembers from growing up on a mission in New South Wales: racing Billycarts, being chased by Emus, picking Quandongs. It’s honest and thought-provoking: “I is for Inspection Day” and the manager’s wife check all the homes to see if they are properly cleaned.

Russell’s own story is a telling example of life during one of Australia’s darker periods of the past. One of seven children, Elaine Russell was born in Tingha in northern NSW in 1941. Around the age of 12, Russell entered a local art competition and won first prize of a trip to the Phillipines. Her parents wouldn’t let her go because they thought it was a trick by the government to remove her from her family. Russell can remember children ‘disappearing’ from the Murrin Bridge Mission.

The first exposure I had to Aboriginal picture books was through the series of books compiled by Pamela Lofts. I remember these from when I was at primary school. Published in 1980, even then I could tell that these books were pretty revolutionary: simply told traditional Aboriginal stories illustrated and told by Aboriginal people. I think they still work beautifully today, and I’ll be hunting down some copies for Rowan: How The Birds Got Their Colours by May Albert and Pamela Lofts and The Echidna and the Shade Tree by Mona Green and Pamela Lofts.