Kyabram is a small country town in northern Victoria not far from the Murray River. It’s surrounded by wide flat plains filled with herds of black and white dairy cows to supply the milk factory at Tongala with rich creamy milk.
The town has all the usual things a country town in Australia has - show grounds, park, a swimming pool, tennis courts, primary and secondary schools, lots of houses, some shops and a library.
Now, one morning, not so long ago, an old lady called Mrs Smith was walking slowly along the footpath in Allan Street towards the Municipal Library which is housed in the old Town Hall. She waved with her favourite duck-headed walking stick to the owner of the coffee shop as she walked by and muttered to herself, ‘How he can charge so much for a cup of tea I just don’t know. Just as well he has good cakes.’
As she turned into the Library someone came out, or maybe we should say something, because it was covered in fur, had two ears that stood up on the top of its head, a long tail and a joey hanging out of its pouch. It was of course a kangaroo.
“Goodness gracious,” said the old lady, “a kangaroo in the library. What next?”
The kangaroo hopped over to a seat on the footpath and sat down. It reached into its pouch, pulled out a book, opened it up and held it out in front of its joey to read.
“Oh dear,” said the old lady, “I wonder if the librarian knows that kangaroo has borrowed a book. I’d better go and tell her.”
She walked into the library and up to the counter but instead of finding Allison the librarian standing there, guess what? Standing there, wearing Allison’s dress and top and librarian’s badge, was a kangaroo. It said, “Tttt, ttt, ttt, ttt, ttt?”
The old lady screamed, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” and fell to the floor in a faint.
“Oh possum,” said the kangaroo librarian. It reached for the telephone and dialled 000. “Ambulance please. An old lady has fainted in the library.”
It wasn’t long before a siren could be heard coming down Allan Street and an ambulance with its lights still flashing pulled up in front of the library. Out hopped two kangaroos in paramedic uniforms. They opened up the back of the ambulance, pulled out a stretcher and began to push it into the library.
Now all of this was seen by a young girl called Maddie. She had just ridden her bike along the lane from the carpark at the back of the library and pulled up to watch the ambulance. When she saw the kangaroo paramedics push the stretcher into the library she left her bike and crept along the front of the library and peered into one of the front windows. There was the kangaroo librarian telling the kangaroo paramedics to take the old lady to the hospital and, when she woke up, to change her into a kangaroo as well.
“What on earth is happening,” thought Ashley, “they’re going to turn poor old Mrs Smith into a kangaroo. Maybe the kangaroos are taking over Kyabram? No they couldn’t be. Kangaroos are nice animals.”
She snuck back to her bike and rode it as fast as she could back along the path, across the car park and through the back streets towards the hospital. She got there just in time to see the kangaroo paramedics pushing the stretcher with poor, old Mrs Smith on it into the emergency section.
“Hullo Maddie. What are you doing hiding behind that tree?” It was her best friend, Tamara, who was trying out her new rollerblades.
“Tamara, shhhhhhhhh! Come over and look.”
Inside the hospital, the two kangaroo paramedics were standing over Mrs Smith and saying out loud, “Kangardoo, kangardoo, kangardoo!”
Mrs Smith’s ears grew long and furry. Her little pink nose grew large and grey with a black end. Her fingernails turned into black claws and from beneath her dress they could see her legs had turned skinny and furry. Mrs Smith had been turned into a kangaroo right in front of their eyes.
“Nttt, nttt, nttt,” said one of the kangaroo medics, “That will teach her. These humans have been too cruel to us poor kangaroos.”
“Yes,” said the other, “they’re always running us over in cars and trucks and shooting us if we try and eat some farmer’s grass. All they are interested in are those silly cows and whether they get enough milk from them.”
“If we turn all the humans into kangaroos then they won’t be able to run us over or shoot us because they’ll be kangaroos as well.”
“But what if the humans that are left work out the magic word to turn kangaroos back into humans before we get all of them?”
“No way. They think they are so smart but they’ll never think of ‘kangardon’t”
Maddie and Tamara looked at each other and then crept away from the window and over behind a big tree.
“What are we going to do Maddie?”
“I know. Mrs Smith’s son is the police sergeant. Let’s tell him. He’ll know what to do.”
Maddie jumped on her bike and began to pedal furiously while Tamara rollarbladed along the footpath towards the police station as fast as she could. She arrived just as Maddie was leaning her bike against the fence. Tamara started to unclip her rollerblades and pull them off her feet. As she walked through the door of the police station office she could hear Maddie saying, “Sergeant Smith, Sergeant Smith, you’re mother is in hospital. She’s been turned into a kangaroo!”
They both got a shock however when a kangaroo wearing a police cap, blue shirt and trowsers and a police revolver hopped behind the counter and said, “Nttt, nttt, nttt, come with me young children.”
Maddie and Tamara looked at each other and ran. They ran out of the police station with the kangaroo in hot bouncing pursuit.
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Kyabram Memorial Park photo Flickr download courtesy of Dey
Across the road, down the footpath, into the park the kangaroo policeman was getting closer. They both ran towards the slippery slide and ran up to the top. The kangaroo hopped on as well but slipped all the way back down.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, you’ll never be able to catch us up here!”
“Ntt, ntt. That won’t matter I’ll just turn you into young kangaroos from here.”
“Ahhhhhh. Nooooooo. Don’t do that, please!”
“Ntt. Ntt. Now let me see what was that magic word?”
Maddie and Tamara looked at each other and they said, “How about, Kangardon’t, Kangardon’t, Kangardon’t”
As they watched Sergeant Smith started to reappear. There was little pink nose, broad shoulders and fat tummy. He looked a bit funny standing at the bottom of the slippery slide in bare feet and looking puzzled but they were so pleased to see him. They both slid down the slippery slide and gave him a big hug.
“What happened?” he said.
“Sit down Sergeant Smith. This might be a shock.”
"The kangaroos of Kyabrum are turning all the people into kangaroos because they are sick of being run over by cars and trucks and being shot at for eating grass. We just saw you’re mother beeing turned into a kangaroo in the hospital and we learn’t the magic word to turn kangaroos back into people. It’s ‘Kangardon’t’”
“Good. Well done girls. Now I want you both to go running through town singing out ‘Kangardon’t’ and I’ll go back to the police station and get the police car with the loud hailer. I’ll drive through the streets around the outskirts. Don’t forget if you see any kangaroos at all shout out the magic word.”
Well you can guess what happened can’t you. Soon everyone in Kyabram, Mrs Smith, Alison the librarian, the two paramedics, everyone was back to their normal human selves.
There was one difference however, now the people of Kyabrum do their best to look after kangaroos. They try really hard not to run them over and Kyabrum has a Fauna Sanctuary and Education Centre where all the animals are looked after very well.
Kangaroo at Kyabram Fauna Sanctuary
photo Flickr download courtesy of Cdr Aitch
Created by Daryll Bellinghamwith the assistance of the audience atthe Kyabram Library Vacation Activities Storytelling Show,Wednesday 7th January, 2004.© Daryll Bellingham(Thanks to the Echuca Friends of the Library for helping to make the storytelling sessions possible.)The original publication can be found on the Plains Talking website at
http://plainstalking.deni.net.au/storiescampaskyab.html
A band came marching down the Murray Valley Highway. As they came closer into view the children could see that they were soldiers heading off to war.
As soon as Maddison said her family's name he said: "At last, at last! It's your great grandma, I have carried her photo next to my heart all through this terrible war." Then he sighed and his whole body started shimmering and shining and growing brighter and brighter till it was finally so luminous that he disappeared.
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