Book launch in Queenscliff all about the birds

AWARD-WINNING children’s author Diane Jackson Hill has always been drawn to the ocean and the creatures that call it home.
A former primary school teacher, Diane’s books educate children about the marine environment in a bid to help protect and restore it for future generations.
Craig Smith is one of Australia’s most prolific and popular illustrators.
He has been illustrating children’s books for over 40 years and has published more than 400 titles.
Windcatcher – Migration of the Short-tailed Shearwater is the second book that the pair have published together, which will be launched at The Bookshop at Queenscliff on Wednesday, October 2 at 2pm and the Marine Discovery Centre in Queenscliff on the same day at 6.30pm.
Windcatcher: Migration of the Short-tailed Shearwater is based on the birds that live on Griffiths Island, near Port Fairy.
Ms Jackson Hill said the region and the community had certainly inspired to write this story.
“I live in south west Victoria and have first-hand knowledge and love of its beauty,” she said.
“I’m fortunate to live in a region that is passionate about our environment and the animals that co-habit.
“There are many volunteer programs in the area to try to protect and preserve what we have.”
The short-tailed shearwaters themselves are also a source of wonder.
Though they are not particularly striking in appearance, nor are they considered threatened from a conservation perspective, these plucky little birds can still capture the imagination.
“Seeing the spectacle of thousands of them circling silently above me and realising that these small birds fly to the North Pole and back every year, I was in awe,” Ms Jackson Hill said.
“Even though it is inherent in their being, you have to admire their strength of body and mind.”
Their previous book Chooks in Dinner Suits: A Tale of Big Dogs and Little Penguins won the 2017 Wilderness Society Environmental Award for Children’s Literature – picture fiction.