Apologies for the delay – Colleen Foley
1. Why did you choose to use a box kite to send the bilbies away?
I have to say that I'm not entirely sure - this image came to me quite
suddenly and it felt right. Originally I had done sketches of the children
being taken away in trucks or some kind of Rabbit car, and these were OK, but I
wanted to increase the sense of separation between the children and their
families. So I was thinking that they would be being lifted up into the
sky (the biggesy visible space there is), but not sure how exactly. I've always
liked kites, and made some myself from time to time, so that is probably why I
thought a box kite would be interesting, and something everyone can recognise.
2. On the 5th and 7th double page a rabbits is peering into a hole that
is the same as on the last page. Does this have any significance, or is it
connected to the last page in any way?
(Mark, Nadia, Stacey and Sam)
Yes, it is connected to the last page just because it looks similar, as
you have noticed. I may have answered this question eariler about seeing the
sky reflected in a pool of water, and what I see as important about this -
namely that it's a kind of appreciation of nature, and awareness that
everything is interconnected; earth, water, sky, stars etc. I wanted to show
that from time to time, a rabbit will notice the pool of water and be
mesmerised by it enough to stop working, or maybe just pause for a minute the
think about what is going on.
One reason for having 'dissenting' rabbits like that is that I did not
want the rabbits to appear evil or wrong as such, just that they can't see
beyond their own activities. To compare, the colonisation of Australia has
always featured at least a small group of protesters since 1788 when you read
about it, that is, Europeans who objected to the taking away of land and rights
from Aborigines without negotiation or respect for law, and worried about
environmental issues right from the beginning of settlement.
3. Why do all the roads on the hill lead to the same point on top of
the hill? Is it deliberately intended that these roads resemble the rabbits'
flag?
Yes it is; I can't say if the rabbits intend to put it there, or if it
just happens kind of subconsciously. It could be that the grass-eating machines
which have may the tracks (or roads as you call them), all started out from the
top of the hill and move outward, like the flag seems to direct all their
activities - you'll notice also that the plan of pipelines on another page also
follows that flag pattern.
4. Why do the cows have wheels for feet?
(Steph, Calen and Amanda)
I was thinking about what makes domesticated or farm animals different
from other animals in nature, and what you might think if you'd never seen a
farm animal before. Aside from the weirdness of a new species, I think you'd be
curious about the fact that they never really go anywhere, and that they are
treated less like animals that as 'livestock' or food-producing packets.
Putting wheels on their feet, and milking machines permanently attached, kind
of emphasises the idea that these are no longer wild animals, but more like
commercial products which you mave around, stack, sell and eventually cut along
the dotted lines.
5. What is the purpose of the white birds?
These were inspired by John's text where it mentions missing birds at
the end of the story; so I kind of liked the image of water birds (which are
often white) as an image of the place in it's uncolonised state, before the
rabbits come. They are beautiful and also fragile looking animals, so I suppose
they suggest the frailty and elegance of the undisturbed natural world.
6. Why are some of the pictures extremely unrealistic?
I would say that all the pictures are extremely unrealistic! But I
think I know what you mean, in that some appear maybe particularly flat or
stylised. This was actually a conscious decision, and the answer shortly I
would say that it is because I did not want the reader to think that this was a
realistic story; just as John obviously did not want his words to be taken
literally. You can imagine what it might look like if all the rabbits were drawn
realistically (which is something I can do as an artist) and it was set in Australia
exactly as it looks - it would be the wrong kind of story. Also, the less
realistic something is, sometimes the more you have to use your imagination,
and it is easier to make people ask questions. I want readers to be very aware
that these are just pictures of an imaginary thing - so you can see outlines
and distortions of reality quite obviously.
7. Why are the cows and sheep stacked up?
See question 4; again, it was kind of making a comment about the idea
of 'livestock' - or living stocks of produce. (Not that I have anything against
farming, I just think that it is kind of odd and funny when you compare it to
how animals naturally live).
8. Many pages in the book have illustrations that are geometrical with
many straight lines and the objects are in proportion. However, in other pages,
the scenes have unrealistic landscapes and curvaceous lines. Why did you choose
to do this?
This is an interesting question and would take a while to answer
properly, and I'd need to go through each picture one by one. I don't think
there are too many general rules, and I treated each picture on it's own, just
thinking what is the best way to represent it. When there are pictures of
rabbit constructions, they are often geometrical, and when it is just natural,
the lines are often curvaceous or wandering around freely. The use of strong
perspective implies order, particularly as in the page where the rabbits are
building houses. I would not say that one way of seeing is more realistic than
another - they are all quite unrealistic, even when things are in perspective,
there is something not quite right about them. Maybe they look TOO organised.
9. On the 12th double page why are a few rabbits wearing masks?
(Peter, Elizabeth, Emma and Dean)
I answered that in an earlier question. To briefly recap; I was
thinking about Victorian society (19th century) and how there seemed to be a
lot of presentation of wealth and class and all sorts of other things.
Basically, the rabbits are interested in a world of appearances, where things
may not be as they seem, so it is partly a comment on that, that the city may
be quite a corrupt place. The aspect of denial or pretense that comes when we
think about putting on a mask may be seen to relate to the fact that the city
is quite an unpleasant overcrowded place that they have made, yet they pretend
that it is good (eg. celebrating it with big statues). This is my
interpretation anyway - but I think readers would get the general impression
that there is something false.
10. What do the imprints of the bilbies on the rocks and the wallpaper
represent?
I saw these as being the dead ancestors, spirits or names (as drawings
on rocks) of the bilbies as you call them (elsewhere I have referred to them as
numbats, but bilbies is just as good a description, if not better since they
are rabbit-like).
11. Why have you chosen to use an image of wetlands on the inside cover?
(Natalie, Glen and Lauren)
I've answered this earlier, and also partly above with the comments on
white birds. The inside cover, or endpapers as they are called (primarily these
papers are there to glue the rest of the book to the cover) is an interesting
part of the book because it is not quite part of the story, but still about it.
I liked the idea of having the wetlands image as some other aspect of the
book's narrative, but just outside the story, so it may be a bit more
dreamlike, or like a memory of the past (before the rabbits came), as well as
how the world of the book may become again, hence being at the end too, which
is a hopeful note.
12. On the 12th double page why is there a single yellow flower growing
when everything else is black and white?
(James, Peter and Chris)
This is to show that a little bit of the natural world might still pop
up in the city (a coloured spot in the grey); more importantly, a child rabbit
is looking at it, and this is perhaps a bit like the other bits in the book
where a rabbit is looking at a pool of water. I've also often used images of
flowers or leaves elsewhere in my work (eg. The Red Tree) as symbols of hope or
perseverence.
13. Why are the rabbits testing the lizard in a chemical liquid?
I'm not sure! I just thought it looked like something they might do -
also that they might be taking specimens, so that they woudl put the lizard
into the liquid and then pop a cork in it, taking it away and studying it. I
always imagined that the first few rabbits we see, as described as a small
group in the text, would be like scientific explorers.
14. Why are the bilbies (and everything associated with them) all in
ciruclar shapes whereas the rabbits (and everything associated with them) have
jagged sharp edges?
(Fiona, Emma and Caitlin)
This is a good question and I thought a lot about doing this and how to
show it. Basically I wanted to differentiate their imaginary cultures so that they
were almost opposite of each other. Also, the bilbies have a closer
relationship and dependence on the natural world, which tends not to have any
straight lines or sharp, neat angles in it, but is more organic looking. The
rabbits have made their own world, which is based on measurement and
construction, and so I imagined they would use a lot of geometry. The sharpness
of some bits I think adds a slightly aggressive or threatening element. I saw
the ship, for instance, as being something like a huge knife that cuts through
the sky.
15. What does the symbol on the rear of the sheep represent?
(Kaitlyn, Angie and Tony)
This is a kind of official emblem that the rabbits used; I made it up
as an image of a 'queen' (her head) with a gun and a quill (feather pen)
crossed underneath as symbols of rabbit power - the pen writes laws and the gun
enforces them, all under the watchful eye of a head of state, a queen rabbit,
like Queen Victoria or Elizabeth.
16.Why is the 5th double page composed of three layers of drawings?
Is this the one with the rabbits exploring? I was experimenting with
the idea of layered time in the illustration, something I have done a lot as a
result of trying to tell stories using pictures. I'm never sure if this image
was entirely clear, but my intention was to show different time of the day by
dividing the illustration with a torn boundary, so that the bit on the right is
actually evening in the same place, and the tracks of the rabbits (their
carriage) and the bilbies/numbats feet go off in different directions, and the
cog that the rabbits gave to the bilbies as a gift is left behind.
17. Why do the rabbits have tallies on their hats on the 8th double
page?
(Lisa, Kady, Joyeeta and Lachlan)
Sometimes in war, soldiers will keep a score or tally of how many
opponents they have killed, so my idea was that the tallies represent the
number of numbats each rabbit has killed.
We apologise for all our questions but we had so many!
No problem - they were all good questions!
