Cirrus@Austlit

Author's note: This novel is a negotiated text written with 'the Sunshine Girls' of Eagle Class from Maningrida Community Education Centre. Maningrida is an Aboriginal community on the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Most of the girls belong to the Burarra tribe, whose land stretches along the coast east of the Blyth River towards Millingimbi. In 1994, when the story was written, the girls ranged in age from 13 to 18 years and were studying the General Studies Certificate Course....The story was very much directed by the girls, and elements of its characters and events, though fictional, can be found in Maningridaa's teenagers and community today. Derek Pugh, 1995.