About the Author Kanakiya Myra Taylor was born in the Australian Inland Mission Hospital in Oodnadatta in 1932 and grew up living in a watuti (lean-to) on the fringes of Oodnadatta township. After the death of her mother, her father took his entire family on a camel journey of hundreds of kilometres through his traditional country of the Finke River system. For years they lived out in the open, sleeping under the stars, while her father dug wells and built cattle yards. When the youngest children were old enough, her father sent them to the Colebrook Home School in Eden Hills, South Australia, to be educated. Product Description 'There are so many stories to tell of my life, and sometimes I think they are not of importance, but they are, because often it is the little details that are the most important. I still remember every detail. [Like] Oodnadatta Country I can still see it, in my mind s eye, exactly as it was back in my time. The Country still calls me back to where I was born, a very exposed and stony land, but I still love it. That s where my spirit is. Kanakiya Myra Ah Chee was born at Oodnadatta in remote South Australia in 1932. When her mother tragically died Myra was only eight. Her grieving father gathered up the remaining family and walked north away from her childhood home. They spent years as nomads, travelling with the camels that were her father s livelihood, up and down the Finke River. Her father sought work where and when he could, while he looked after his children, teaching them about the bush, their culture and life. It was a childhood of freedom, bush tucker, bush games, fires, stories at night and sleeping under the stars at times idyllic but, at other times, terrifying and tragic. Myra s father was a safe and reassuring presence, but when he decided education was the key to his children s future, Myra s life was changed forever. My family pulled all their strengths together from the bush life and from school education. We have shown how it is possible to be successful in life, bringing both sides of our cultures into line. We managed to do it. I ve straddled the old life and the new.