Charmaine in her studio in Blackheath. (Photo: Hamish Dunlop)
Story by Hamish Dunlop
Hamish Dunlop interviews prize-winning children’s book illustrator, mother, activist and proud Bundjalung woman, Charmaine Ledden-Lewis. She talks about the power of storytelling and how we can inspire our children to build a better world. She describes the importance of connecting with Country and explains what it means to be an Indigenous illustrator whose family was part of the Stolen Generations.
When I step onto the verandah, I can see Charmaine though a large glass window. She’s eating breakfast at her kitchen table. When she looks up, there is a flutter of recollection. She opens the door and gracefully ushers me onto the couch. Five minutes later, she’s sitting opposite me wearing faded blue jeans and a white knitted top. The cat is curled up next to her and we’ve both got coffee in our hands.
A children’s book illustrator
In 2019, Charmaine won the prestigious Magabala Books’ Kestin Indigenous Illustrator Award. This was her break into the children’s book industry. It led to her illustrating Bruce Pascoe’s story, Found (2020), and Cathy Freeman’s Born to Run (2021). She has subsequently illustrated Seasons (2023) written by Aunty Munya Andrews and Charlie’s Swim (2022) written by Edith Wright.
A detail from Found written by Bruce Pascoe and illustrated by Charmaine.
Early inspiration
Charmaine was inspired to be a children’s book illustrator by the books she read as a child. My Place, a children’s book published in 1987, was pivotal. It was written and illustrated by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins. The book captures stories of everyday lives and the richness that percolates out of our relationship with place.
From MY PLACE by Nadia Wheatley and illustrated by Donna Rawlins
Text © 1987 Nadia Wheatley/Illustrations © 1987 Donna Rawlins
Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Australia
Charmaine remembers sitting in a library reading – knowing she was Aboriginal – and being acutely aware of the lack of representations of her life. There was disparity, she recalls, between urban Indigenous living and the predominant representations of Indigenous people being in pre-colonial Australia.
Then one day her mother gave her a copy of My Place. “I though, oh, here’s a kid with the Aboriginal flag in their front window, living somewhere like Tempe or Redfern in Sydney. The book had maps in it,” she recalls, “and mum pointed out where we lived. Looking back, the gift that book gave me was representations of urban Indigenous identity.”
Where the forest meets the sea
Jeannie Baker was another favourite of Charmaine’s. Jeannie’s book, Where the Forest Meets the Sea (1987) explores how humans are part of nature and the magic of that. “She’s been writing since the 1970s and all her books have an environmental message,” Charmaine explains.
From WHERE THE FOREST MEETS THE SEA by Jeannie Baker
Copyright © 1988 Jeannie Baker
Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd
She hands me an autographed copy of Jeannie’s 2023 book, Desert Jungle. It’s signed to Charmaine’s two boys. “It explores the lack of relationship we have with Country,” Charmaine says. She directs me to a quote by Chief Dan George in the title pages: ‘What you do not know you will fear. What you fear, one destroys.’ “I’d add to that,” she says: “What we don’t care about, we don’t protect.”
Seasons of change
Charmaine’s most recent book, Seasons (2023), has been shortlisted for the Wilderness Society’s 2024 Karajia Award. Written by Aunty Munya Andrews, it tells a story about our relationship with Country. “Aunty Munya talks about the way we can pay attention to Country,” Charmaine explains. “How what’s happening on Country informs us about the seasons, rather than the calendar months defining them.”
She recalls her great grandmother taking her for a walk in her own backyard when she was a child. “She’d crush leaves and get me to smell them,” she remembers. “She made that walk around the garden an introduction to Country.”
A detail from Seasons, written by Aunty Munya and illustrated by Charmaine.
Gently rocking the boat
Chamaine tells me that while the message in Seasons is simple and tangible, it’s a starting point to challenge mindsets and perceptions. “It might be ambitious for a storybook,” she considers, “but discovering there are differences between the northern hemisphere concept of seasons and our place, can shift how we frame the world.”
“What happens when we look at it differently?” she asks rhetorically. “If we see differently, we can act differently and who better than children to look at the world with fresh eyes.” Her desire for a better future is palpable. “The way we’re doing things is breaking the world,” she impassions. “Things have got to shift.”
Awe and wonder
As a parent, Charmaine has introduced her children to the awe and wonder of the natural world. “When I was first pregnant and my husband and I were looking to buy somewhere, I couldn’t imagine changing careers and lifestyle to live away from nature. It was really about where to build a nest for baby birds,” she recalls.
A detail from Seasons written by Aunty Munya and illustrated by Charmaine.
A common theme in Charmaine’s book is sunsets. “I go nuts for sunsets!” she exudes. “Sunsets and sunrises with their myriads of colours. A couple of years ago my kids said, “turn off the TV!” “What’s going on?” I asked. “Come check out the sunset,” they called. Her face lights up. “It gave me so much fulfillment,” she says. “To know that I had imbued them with a love for the natural world: it’s often the small things that create big and lasting moments.”
A champion
As well as her current illustration projects, Charmaine speaks at writers’ festivals and does school visits. “Book Week is a big part of a book creator’s year,” she says. “I do up to four sessions a day. I explain about the process of illustration, the team involved, where ideas come from and how they are realised. Exploring the messages within and beyond words is an important part of it.”
As a Varuna board member, Charmaine is passionately championing the children’s programme at the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival. She is also an ambassador for the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF). “ALFN supports marginalised communities,” she tells me. “They work with Indigenous communities to bring about equity and equality: making sure kids have access to books and reading programmes.”
An indigenous illustrator
One of the questions Charmaine is often asked is, ‘Are you an Indigenous illustrator, or an illustrator who does Indigenous-themed illustrations?’ “I find it a strange question,” she muses, “but the thing I’ve realised, is that my time is better spent working on Indigenous-themed books. It’s my form of advocacy, my strength.”
A detail from Born to Run written by Cathy Freeman and illustrated by Charmaine.
As with so many Indigenous families, the enduring effects of the Stolen Generations reverberate in Charmaine’s life. My great grandmother and grandmother were stolen,” she tells me. “My grandmother was three when she was taken into a mission. They were separated and my great grandmother went into domestic slavery. Illustrating books with Indigenous authors has connected me with so many blackfellas,” she says. “I’ve found great power and healing in that.”
Reconciliation
Charmaine tells me it wasn’t just families that were broken in the Stolen Generations. She says the policies of separating people and taking them out of place aimed to fracture culture and language. While the referendum failed to enshrine Indigenous voices in the constitution, she believes the process of reconciliation is continuing to take shape. There is a caveat however: Indigenous ways of engagement must be central.
A detail from Charlie’s Swim. Written by Edith Wright and illustrated by Charmaine.
“As blackfellas, we’re in the process of reclaiming and reinvigorating language and culture: all of those things,” she explains. “We’re designing what these spaces look like for us. It’s not about homogenised Australian Aboriginality. Our ability to bring all Australians into these cultural spaces is something that will take time. Being patient and respectful of this is key to the process of walking together.”
Sunset
The sun is glancing through the windows and we both check the time. “I could talk about these things all day!” Chamaine exclaims. I tell her that she’s in good company and that interviewing her today has been a special treat.
“My mum was a picture book reviewer when I was growing up in New Zealand,” I say. “It’s particularly poignant, because she wrote an academic thesis about the picture book as art. Like you, she believed that children’s books have voices beyond the words.”
Charmaine looks at me thoughtfully and collects the books that we have been discussing and perusing. “Why don’t you take these home,” she says. “No hurry.” She slips them into a tote bag and gently passes them to me. “There are a few signed editions,” she says, patting the top of the pile.”
As I step out the front door into the late autumn afternoon, I feel a huge sense of gratitude. Looking west into the curtailing light, her words reverberate inside me: “What we care about, we protect.”
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This story has been produced as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health and is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
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