What comes through so clearly is that inhumanity is not confined solely to the faceless bureaucracy but also is reflected in the callousness of many Euro-Australians who show little compassion towards the unspoken needs of the defenceless – both Aboriginal and European.

Isabelle's Aboriginal relatives try to assume responsibility for the children but always the assertions of Aboriginal inferiority manage to frustrate such efforts. Only the superbly humane qualities within Monica could have transcended such experiences without leaving a residue of bitterness in her adult years.

The style of writing is simple although uneven in quality. One wonders whether Monica's original manuscript, warts and all, might not have been preferable to some of the subsequent editing admitted in the Foreword.

However, the important fact lies in the record Karobran contains. Australia is now in a comparable economic climate to the one existing in Monica’s childhood and we have many minority groups inhabiting the country. Unless we can improve on past records of callous insensitivity to the needs of the dispossessed the world of tomorrow will not dawn for the youth of today. It is a sobering thought.