The Song of Wirrun
Young Adult Fantasy Coming-of-Age Fantasy Australian Aboriginal Mythic Fantasy Indigenous Mythology Modern Arthurian Epic Environmental / Nature Fantasy High / Epic Fantasy
The Song of Wirrun is the scarce 1987 first-edition hardcover that completes Patricia Wrightson’s award-winning Wirrun trilogy—an Australian answer to Earthsea that weaves Aboriginal Dreamtime spirits into modern fantasy. 592 pages of lyrical prose carry readers from Sydney’s streets to the Snowy Mountains and the cosmic battle behind the wind, all guided by Wirrun, the Aboriginal youth chosen to restore balance between the ancient and the new. Collectors prize this volume because it wraps the entire saga in one satisfying block, finished with a pictorial dust-jacket that still glows with the original ochre-and-indigo artwork.
Wrightson’s genius lies in grounding epic fantasy in authentic Indigenous mythology without appropriation; every bunyip, warrigal and sky-hero comes courtesy of years of respectful research and consultation. The result is a novel that feels both timeless and urgently Australian, lauded with the 1987 Children’s Book Council Book of the Year for Older Readers and still on high-school and university syllabi. For collectors, the true first is already scarce in nice condition; most library copies were read to pieces, making clean, tight examples with the unclipped jacket a genuine find.
This particular copy meets the collector checklist: first printing, English-language text, 190 mm x 130 mm hardback with the original pictorial jacket, no ex-library markings, no inscriptions, and only trivial edge-wear. At 677 g it feels solid in the hand—perfect for display beside Wrightson’s earlier Ice Is Coming and Behind the Wind. Whether you are completing a set, hunting Australian children’s classics, or gifting a thoughtful reader who has outgrown Harry Potter and is ready for something deeper, The Song of Wirrun delivers a richly atmospheric adventure that lingers long after the final page.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
Buy Now