The First Voyage

by Allan Baillie

30,000 years ago, before the pyramids are built, before the Ice Age comes and goes, and before Neanderthals become extinct, the Yam tribe live in peace on Bird Island. But the Crocodile tribe have other ideas . . .

The ferocious Crocodile warriors have already killed Bent Beak's pa, and now they seem determined to take out his whole tribe. The only way to survive is to flee the island. But where will they go?

As the Yam tribe brave the perils of the sea, will they survive the voyage into the unknown, and what awaits them just over the horizon?

An enthralling story about the plight of the very first boat people, of their desperation, bravery and hope.

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2014

About the author

Allan Baillie was born in Scotland but has lived most of his life in Australia, where he attended several Victorian bush schools and eventually settled in Melbourne. He has worked as a journalist and published books in fourteen countries.

Reviews

[Law · Rating 2 out of 5]

Representation: First Australian characters
Trigger warnings: Physical assault and injury, blood, grief and loss depiction, death of a father in the past and others
Score: Five out of ten.
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The First Voyage by Allan Baillie saw this book hiding in the historical shelves and hoped it would be better. Thus, I picked it up and finally read it. It was, but not by much. The narrative has so many flaws outweighing the positive aspects.

It starts with the Bent Beak who has no surname living in what is now Timor-Leste, Timor in this book.

I couldn't relate to any of the characters in the novel considering it kills off characters left, right and centre. I guess it's an effort to reduce character soup as there were many characters. It could've been longer since it's less than 200 pages. A book can be under 200 pages and still be outstanding but not every book can pull that off. The one I read failed because it left me wanting more. The First Voyage would be better if a First Australian author wrote it and not a white one. The fact the afterword used the term Aborigine unsettled me.

The writing style was enough to keep the storyline going. The pacing is slow in the first half but speeds up when Bent Beak and other characters move from Timor-Leste to Australia. The conclusion was okay but not enough to save The First Voyage.