As the boys grew, Nanberry became a sailor, joining the boats first heading to Norfolk Island and then further afield. When Andrew was born, Nanberry delighted in teaching him all he knew. They had mostly been wiped out by the fever but Nanberry was happy - his adopted father was kind and generous and taught Nanberry much. He was torn between his new English ways and the memories of his clan, the Cadigal people. Nanberry learned quickly and soon was interpreting for Governor Philip. When Surgeon White went against everything and adopted the native boy Nanberry, he had no idea of the closeness and affection he would feel for this intelligent Aboriginal boy. Nanberry survived after suffering from the blisters and fever for some days but his grandfather passed. The settlers including Surgeon White went to the sites where the natives lay to see if there were any left alive – two young children plus an adult were brought back to their primitive hospital. When trouble struck in 1789 it wasn’t to the colony though the natives surrounding Sydney Cove were dying and it seemed it was an outbreak of smallpox.

They were down to rationing – food, medicines, rum – the stocks were low. The First Fleet had been settled in Sydney Cove for just over a year and Surgeon John White was despairing of a ship with supplies ever coming over the horizon. will work just as well for adults as for the teen market' SUNDAY HERALD SUN will appeal to readers of all ages' COURIER MAIL 'A wonderful, entertaining tale which. Praise for A WALTZ FOR MATILDA: 'this blockbuster of a novel with its gripping narrative. No less incredible is the enduring love between the gentleman surgeon and the convict girl who was saved from the death penalty and became a great lady in her own right. This true story follows the brothers as they make their way in the world - one as a sailor, serving in the Royal Navy, the other a hero of the Battle of Waterloo. And yet he is haunted by the memories of the Cadigal warriors who will one day come to claim him as one of their own.

With his white brother, Andrew, he witnesses the struggles of the colonists to keep their precarious grip on a hostile wilderness.

Nanberry is clever and uses his unique gifts as an interpreter to bridge the two worlds he lives in. Ages 12+ two brothers - one black, one white - and a colony at the end of the world It's 1789, and as the new colony in Sydney Cove is established, Surgeon John White defies convention and adopts Nanberry, an Aboriginal boy, to raise as his son. The amazing story of Australia's first surgeon and the boy he adopted.

Nanberry by Jackie French