Banksia Men

I’ve mentioned before that we had very different childhoods, so things that I grew up with, stories that I know well, mean nothing to him. May Gibbs was a famous Australian author and illustrator and many Australian children grew up reading her stories, especially the Snugglepot and Cuddlepie series.

There are types of trees in Australia called Banksia Trees which have these strange cones on them. The Big Bad Banksia Men are the bad guys in the stories and are basically these ugly cones on the trees. In the stories they have arms and legs but even in real life you can see ugly faces on them and the way they grow on trees makes them look like they are sitting up on the branches in groups.

Many times I’ve cringed as I’ve walked past Banksia trees because it seems like Banksia men are glaring down at me. They were so terrifying in the stories. It’s something my husband can’t understand at all because to him it’s just a tree!

Besides from the scary villains, the stories about gumnut babies are really wonderful. Look how cute gumnut babies are:

They are really beautiful books so if you have children I really recommend them. I’ll definitely be reading them to my children.