The family vacation was at Rainbow Beach on the Sunshine Coast. Many of the beaches in this region, including Frazer Island have impressive sand dunes and cliffs where erosion has exposed a palette of unique coloured sands, colours ranging from white to brown, golden to caramel and other colours of gold and orange, even blue and black. I saw the sign ‘Coloured Sands’.  I thought it would be a wonderful title for my novel. I had to find a way to work it into the storyline. This is how I did it:

The pioneering woman Mary is caring for the Crazy Orphan, Emily, who is participating in silent tantrums ( she is struck dumb after the shock of the tribal dispute that left her an orphan), and she is kicking the cot, her way of protesting to the presence of the child Mary has placed there.

 The indigenous tribe on the creek, (Jooloonga Station's servants who have gone walk-about) bring Mary a baby on the verge of death. She has the baby boy in a steam tent near the stove.  Emily is filled with jealously and contempt for this child of the earth. 

 The exhausted Mary who is pregnant once more deals with the situation and soon after falls asleep on the little couch near the woodstove.  This is Mary's dream that she later retells to Emily in a bid to calm the tormented little soul – the dream that gives credence to the title of the novel with  COLOURED SANDS  being used as a metaphor for race.  

Mary’s Dream

She drifted into a dreamy world where

frothy water washed onto a beach of coloured sands –

the colour of people - black, white, yellow and brown;

then suddenly a huge wave, whipped by a fierce wind

churned and swallowed the coloured sands that kept swirling and

 curling, around and over, this way and that way 

until one colour emerged - the colour of tan.

 People walked proudly out of those waves – 

beautiful golden tan people, the colour  of all people combined 

and the eyes that shone from those beautiful, golden, tan faces were full

 of love and peace.

First Novel :  COLOURED SANDS

Second Novel: VALLEY F THE EAGLE

Third Novel: THE TAN PEOPLE - a journey into truth

Coloured Sands Trilogy by Barbara Hartmann King ... 
http://www.colouredsandstrilogy.com.au/

Excerpts from the Coloured Sands Trilogy 
http://www.colouredsandstrilogy.com.au/excerpts_3.h