That night, the night I first met Jim, lightning blazed and thunder cracked and rolled overhead … Dad burst in through the front door, a flashlight in one hand, an Aboriginal boy clasped to his hip with the other. ‘This is Jimmy,’ he said. ‘He’s going to be living here with us now.’ I was watching the boy and saw tears mingle with the rain on his cheeks.
It’s the mid 1950s, and racism is rife. Robert’s father, Jack Pickering, is confident he’s doing what’s best for Jim, a young Indigenous boy. Recognising the child’s athletic ability, Jack encourages him to train hard, to go for gold. But despite Jim’s outstanding success, something is wrong. Jack’s paternalism, and the injustices Jim faces every day, weigh heavily against the ‘advantages’ forced upon this Aboriginal child. When Jack finally dies, his white son Robert discovers something terrible about Jim that will ultimately explain everything.
A unique, and powerful story of the stolen generation, reconciliation, the power of country and ultimately of hope.
