The First Voyage by Allan Baillie

The First Voyage
 (Puffin, 2014)

The First Voyage is a tale about people long ago, when the land mass known as Sahul was in existence. It is now known as New Guinea and Australia. This story is set around 30,000 years ago when the Yam tribe escape persecution from the Crocodile tribe. The main characters are teenagers Bent Beak and The Wind. There are elders and younger members of the tribe too that the reader grows to love. Unfortunately some characters die, but most of the tribe makes it off Bird Island (one day to become Timor Leste) to travel by raft across the sea to a wide red land (one day to become Australia).

I enjoyed this book, for its simplicity and endearing characters. It is a great adventure.