Tiki and Jill and the Great Australian Camel Race

Written by Kate Simpson & Jill Colwell

Illustrated by Craig Smith

A & U Children 2026

Teaching resources

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

This is a splendid real life story beautifully told by two award-winning creators and illustrated  by Craig Smith of The Wobbly Bike fame. It is a case where action and adventure bring out courage and perseverance in a young girl committed to a gruelling challenge. It is also an unsentimental tribute to enduring human animal relationships forged over time told in straightforward prose and movingly illustrated by Craig Smith.

Tiki is a desert camel and more than half wild when he is teamed up with Jill, an accomplished horse rider, but someone who has never ridden a camel before. It’s 1988 and they are one of the sixty-nine entered in the camel race from the red centre of Australia to the Gold Coast. It’s a fascinating story of endurance, ingenuity and plain old-fashioned grit as Tiki and Jill separately and together overcome the obstacles in their way.

The illustrations are marvellous, starting with the front and back endpapers which show photos of the contestants, maps, and newspaper articles bringing the whole vividly to life. All the liveliness of the mischievous Tiki is there on the page as is Jill’s iconic Australian ‘can do’ attitude, evident in every line. The colours of the landscape, the red desert, the bush, the animals and the land are lovingly rendered.

As Jill Colwell says: Ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when they persevere and work together. Teachers of Australian history and geography will find this a useful resource while any child who enjoys factual animal stories will relish the humour, incident and storytelling here.

Recommended for school and home libraries and readers aged 5+.