Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Topsy-turvy World : How Australian Animals Puzzled Early Explorers

0/5 ( ratings)

To the first Europeans who came to Australia, everything seemed topsy turvy. Christmas was in the summer and trees shed their bark but not their leaves. And the animals were bizarre. There was a bird that laughed like a donkey and a type of greyhound that bound along on its hind legs like a hare. There was an animal in Tasmania whose nocturnal screeches sounded like the devil and a river creature that had a duck’s bill at one end and a beaver’s tail at the other.

The Europeans had never seen anything like these animals before and gave them names similar to those of the European creatures they already knew. They drew and painted odd pictures of them, showing they did not understand the animals’ habits. In one illustration, a wombat is standing on its back legs and in another a Tasmanian tiger is wrestling with a platypus of the same size.

Through factional stories of real characters and events, Kirsty Murray brings alive the wonder and excitement over the first European sightings of Australian animals and the misunderstandings they had about these creatures. Her dramatisations are followed by what we know today about the animals’ habits and by other fascinating facts about them.

Language: English

Pages: 100

Format: Hardcover

Release: October 01, 2012

ISBN 13: 9780642277497

Topsy-turvy World : How Australian Animals Puzzled Early Explorers

0/5 ( ratings)

To the first Europeans who came to Australia, everything seemed topsy turvy. Christmas was in the summer and trees shed their bark but not their leaves. And the animals were bizarre. There was a bird that laughed like a donkey and a type of greyhound that bound along on its hind legs like a hare. There was an animal in Tasmania whose nocturnal screeches sounded like the devil and a river creature that had a duck’s bill at one end and a beaver’s tail at the other.

The Europeans had never seen anything like these animals before and gave them names similar to those of the European creatures they already knew. They drew and painted odd pictures of them, showing they did not understand the animals’ habits. In one illustration, a wombat is standing on its back legs and in another a Tasmanian tiger is wrestling with a platypus of the same size.

Through factional stories of real characters and events, Kirsty Murray brings alive the wonder and excitement over the first European sightings of Australian animals and the misunderstandings they had about these creatures. Her dramatisations are followed by what we know today about the animals’ habits and by other fascinating facts about them.

Language: English

Pages: 100

Format: Hardcover

Release: October 01, 2012

ISBN 13: 9780642277497

More books from Kirsty Murray

Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Bridie's Fire

3.8/5 ( ratings)

India Dark

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Year It All Ended

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Vulture's Wake

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Market Blues

3.1/5 ( ratings)

Becoming Billy Dare

3.7/5 ( ratings)

When Billy Was a Dog

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Strangers on Country

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Kids Who Did: Real kids who ruled, rebelled, survived and thrived

4.6/5 ( ratings)

The Red Camel

4.6/5 ( ratings)

A Penny to Remember

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Howard Florey

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Shadow Catchers

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Walking Home with Marie-Claire

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Rich & Rare : a collection of Australian stories, poetry and artwork

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Tough Stuff

4.6/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?