Bottersnikes & Gumbles

The Bottersnikes & Gumbles stories highlight the conflicts between the lazy, destructive Bottersnikes and good-natured, hardworking Gumbles. The two different species represent the opposing attitudes towards the environment. There are those who destroy the bush, and there are those who clean it up. Even though the main environmental theme is very serious, this theme is diffused by humour, absurdity, playful language and its sense of the ridiculous.

Bottersnikes are lizard-like creatures with green wrinkly skin, cheese-grater noses and long, pointed ears that go red when they are angry, which is most of the time. They must be the laziest creatures in the world. They love to eat barbecued mattress stuffing and pictures of food out of magazines, with rusty nails and bottle tops as dessert. The Bottersnikes are afraid of water, because they shrink when they get wet and have to be hung out to dry. Whenever Bottersnikes manage to capture the Gumbles, they put them in cans, force them to do dirty work or eat them. Gumbles are friendly and cheerful bush creatures that can take on any shape without being hurt, although when flattened or “spanked” out completely, they need help to regain their original shape. They are hopeless when they get the giggles.