Author and Illustrator Sharon Rae Hulme

Living on the edge of the woods in a small town in the U.S.A., I first started drawing when I was a little girl. Early visits to the library with my twin sister Susan had librarians showing her story books to read, as she was a very gifted early reader. While that was happening for her in the library, I was searching for books on how to draw and create toys and bits and pieces. Summertime activities in the nearby elementary school playground often had crafts to make. One of my creations was submitted into a little exhibition and took first place! (It was a little vase made from a jar with twisted crepe paper in different colours showing my dad fishing under a tree beside a lake.) Later in elementary school, students were asked to paint a picture of their favourite holiday spot. Mine was of Lake Tahoe. It was selected to be sent for exhibition as well. I spent a lot of time daydreaming in school and, lucky for me, I followed my heart and my dreams, graduating from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Art. This led me to search for work in Australia, arriving here in 1974. Given a country posting as a primary school teacher at North Richmond, N.S.W, I fell in love with the bush, the birds and marsupials during many bush walks in the Blue Mountains. I travelled on bus-style holidays to see the Outback of Australia and beyond – rather a rough adventure in those days. Many years were spent teaching Art and Photography at many levels in the Sutherland Shire of N.S.W. Spending some time as a relief teacher in Sydney’s Taronga Zoo educational centre teaching children about native Australian animals, their habitats, and how to handle various creatures, led me to my familiarity with the animals and the plight of the little Bilby. I’ve since always had a love for Bilbies. This brought me to write a book for children, Whatever will be Bilby. This is my first book to be published. I hope every reader enjoys this story as much as I have writing and llustrating my favourite little marsupial, the Bilby.