Colin Thiele's Storm Boy: Keith reviews the life and stories of Colin Thiele in the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia
The Murray Mouth, where the river slips into the southern ocean is where the story of Storm Boy began. Colin Thiele and his good mate, fellow Teachers College lecturer, John Bailey came here for a long walk in the Christmas holidays of 1960. John wanted to do a painting of the Coorong and tell Colin about an idea he had for a story - about a boy who lived out here in the solitary wilderness. Colin liked it - he thought he could do something with it.
The story of course, was Storm Boy. Colin Thiele went home and spent the next three or four weeks writing the now classic story about the special relationship between a young boy, an outcast aboriginal man and a pelican... and the narrow finger of sandhills and windswept scrub that halts the southern ocean's incessant march, the Coorong.
The book sold over a million copies, including a staggering one hundred and fifty thousand in Russia. And when the story took flight onto the big screen in 1976, it affirmed Colin Thiele as one of our greatest storytellers of all time.
It also helped put the SA Film Corporation on the map, launched the acting career of Greg Rowe as Storm Boy, David Gulpilil as the mysterious Fingerbone Bill and of course, a pelican called Mister Percival. But perhaps the biggest star was the Coorong.
"I felt an affinity to the Coorong immediately," said Colin in an interview he did for Postcards before his death in September 2006. "From my boyhood I like solitude not loneliness, but I like the open space of wilderness."
Colin was passionate about his country - particularly the Coorong.
"I don't think there are many places in the world anymore where you can go and see something almost as it was from pristine days," he said.
"Storm Boy changed people's perspectives about the environment," added Colin's biographer, Stephanie Steggall. "We're talking the 1970's here, a long time before we were talking environment as a big issue."
Stephanie rightly describes Colin as an environmentalist well before his time. And that comes through in many of his ninety or so books... but Storm Boy was special.
"I think there was a real sense of trying to capture the uniqueness of that environment," said film director, Scott Hicks. Scott was a 'runner' on Storm Boy - that means he was a gopher for anyone who needed anything! From that humble start, he's loped through a career that's included directing an Oscar winner, 'Shine". Now, his third Hollywood movie sees him working with superstars like Catherine Zeta-Jones. But thirty years ago Storm Boy gave him an enduring love of the SA's south coast - and an insight into the ingredients of a memorable film.
"Storm Boy travelled. I mean the film had magic," he said. "It had a chemistry about it between Greg and Gulpilil, and the pelicans. It was something indefinable, that you could never really have predicted, and I think all films look for that kind of magic..."
"I was a bit protective," laughed Colin relating the story of being approached by the producers. "I asked questions like "where are you going to make it?" and he (the producer) looked at me as if I was a stunned old mullet and said, "well I would have thought we'd make it down on the Coorong!"
Right answer! The SA Film Corporation got the rights and overcame the obstacles of working in sandhills and on beaches to take the fragile Coorong to the world… and to impart Colin's plea for the natural environment.
Three decades on, with the current plights of the Murray, it's a noble and lasting achievement.
"To have made a movie to enter the popular consciousness in the way that Storm Boy has, and which I think will always be there," said Scott.
Colin Thiele died at the age of 84. His legacy is the infinite wisdom he shared as an educator, conservationist, and writer and above all as an active optimist.
"For God's sake we need to realise what a treasure we have here," pleaded Colin. "Don't damage it. Let us hand it on to our children, and our children's children's children, down the centuries."
The people still reading the book and watching the film on DVD around the world would surely agree. And for us, the Coorong is on our doorstep. Colin Thiele loved this place - the wilderness, the solitude. Here he said - you can find yourself.
And many do. Colin Thiele's books are widely available - they're not only children's stories either. They include poetry, geography, and biographies - the works.
DVD's of some of his classics like Storm Boy and Blue Fin are also readily available at DVD outlets. They are great viewing. If you have any further question please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
And if you want to get down on the Coorong contact Coorong Cruises in Goolwa.
Storm Boy
By Colin Thiele
Available at good bookshops
Many other titles available
DVD
Storm Boy
Blue Fin
Available at DVD outlets
Spirit Australia Cruises
Main Wharf
Goolwa
Toll free: 1800 442 203
Bookings: bookings@coorongcruises.com.auPublished 5th November 2006
