Leaving Barrumbi

Dale stands up hanging onto the wire cage of the Toyota and sees his home, Long Hole, shrinking away. The rusty iron roofs of the old people's houses at bottom camp are already disappearing into the red soil. And suddenly it hits him that he's leaving. He was born here at Long Hole, he's been here all his life, never slept anywhere else except for camping and fishing. Now he's going away for weeks, for months. Not coming home till the term is over. His guts drops, his brain tingles. Bugger that! he thinks. I'm not going to no boarding school. Gotta get outta here, gotta jump, run, hide!

The nine-hour trip to his new school is just the beginning of the worst time in Dale Murphy's life. He's only ever lived with Aboriginal kids-his is the only white family at the community- but once he starts at the Leichhardt Secondary School everyone sees him as a whitefella. His best mate, Tomias Andjurika, is a high achiever, good at everything, popular. Tomias even starts to be interested in girls! And Dale's left behind. He doesn't know who he is any more.