Three dresses by Wanda Gibson
When Wanda and her family went on their annual holiday to the beach, Mum would remind the girls to take three dresses: one to wash, one to wear and one spare.
This wonderful picture book will thrill young readers as they spend the holiday at the beach with Wanda and her family. All the fun of a beach holiday is there: boiling a billy over a small fire, skipping, swimming, collecting things, playing with the dog, talking around the camp fire, building a shelter, sleeping on the beach and even getting salt water on their arms and legs when they get stung.
The family is warm and strong, doing everything together and readers will relate to this holiday at the beach. Information in the story shows us that this family come from a mission and has to walk to the beach for their holiday, their clothes rolled up and carried on their backs like a swag.
Wanda is immensely proud of her three dresses, given to her from the Lutheran Church. She is happy when Mum uses her sewing skills to repair the dress, and dries them near the fire when they get wet.
This compelling picture book gives readers a slice of life not often seen. The book relates Wanda’s time with her family, close knit, supportive and happy. Wanda does not question how they live, it is presented for the reader to think about and question. And they will. A new generation of people will ask what a mission was and why they have to walk to their holiday without a suitcase, or live in the sandhills on the holiday and have three dresses donated by the church.
This wonderful story impels readers to think about the difference in their lifestyles, ours so privileged, the other bereft of the trappings of our society, living a life few of us would be able to contemplate.
The emphasis on the happy family, delighted with their place on the beach and their simple life style is represented by Wanda’s pleasure with her three dresses.
Wamda’ story is told at the end of the book, along with a photo of this warm and generous woman. Her illustrative technique, using swathes of colours across each page, has quite an impact. Not for her the fussy details of life on the beach, but a clear unequivocal look at the sparseness of their existence, made clear with the family as the main object that the eyes see on each page. They are always helping out: Dad with a child on his shoulders, mum sewing up a ripped dress, the children collecting eggs for supper, making the fire.
Her story of living at Hope Vale Mission where she was expected to work on the farm, then as a teen learnt domestic duties through working at the mission house, is another story in itself. Wanda Gibson is a Nukgal Wurra woman of the Guugu Yimithirr people. Her dad is a Yuuethawarra man and his country is around Cape Melville. Both of Wanda’s parents were brought to Cape Bedford Mission when they were ten or twelve, having been taken from their communities. Wanda came to painting in 2010 and loves it, completing a Diploma of Visual Arts at Cairns TAFE in 2014. Wanda has five kids, eleven grandkids and five great-grandkids.
And they just hear some wonderful stories. A wonderful book. Teacher's notes are available.
Themes: Aboriginal life, Missions, Holidays.
Fran Knight