A ROCKINGHAM author passionate about the unique beauty of our native flora and fauna has been thanked by the British Royal family after sending two of her books to Kensington Palace.
Kez Wickham St George published two children’s books: Seapea and Peli the Pelican and Friends because she wanted to share the unique and natural beauty of her current and former homes with British children.
Seapea is based from her experience living in New Zealand about seaweed pickers in the far north of the country.
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READ NOW“It was when I was little and I was just fascinated by these people who would collect seaweed for a living,” she said.
“The seaweed was used for kelp supplements in the form of a tablet for aches and pains.
“Their houses were made from nothing other than what the sea gave them – they had odd shaped homes made from anything collected from the sea.
“The story is about a woman who lives in one of those little houses and while collecting seaweed she finds a baby mermaid but has to give it back.”
Peli the Pelican and Friends was inspired by the pelicans that frequent the Rockingham area and Mandurah’s foreshore, with one bird in particular leaving an impression.
“I lived in a caravan for a while in Rockingham near Lake Richmond with all its tiger snakes and at dusk the pelicans would fly really low right over my van,” she said.
“I would look at their wing span and think ‘what majestic and beautiful birds’.
“But it was the one on the Mandurah foreshore that really got to me.
“There were some tourists who fed the pelican sandwiches – still wrapped in plastic.”
However the pelican was more concerned that it’s free lunch was about to be stolen.
“It just floored me – and it scared me,” she said.
“I tried to get the plastic off but it got angry and I didn’t get to get the plastic off – it was too late.”
“Humans are destroying the world – why would you give plastic-wrapped food to a pelican?
Wickham St George said she was so lucky to have her books selected and get a thank you letter.
“I just really wanted to put Rockingham and its beautiful waters in the palace,” she said.
“They get millions of gifts every year – my books went straight to the palace.
“I’m really chuffed – I’m one in a million!”
For more information on the books visit kezwickhamstgeorge.com