Ian Abdulla's paintings and text offer a snapshot of an Aboriginal family living on a small stretch of the Murray River in South Australia in the 1950s and 1960s when the assimilation policy still existed and there were few employment opportunities for Aborigines. The river provided the Abdulla family with food, cash and seasonal jobs, and means of living away from the mission. As I grew older affirms the culture of rural Aborigines who, despite being dispossessed, have been determined to stay on their own land.