Long shot early C20th Australian book

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I was thinking the other day about a book I read as a child. It was set in Australia. The title might have something to do with a creek? Featured a family of kids (2 boys and maybe 2 girls?) who are sent to live with a fierce female relative.

One boy is golden child called Peter, the other is Percival a boy with a crooked back. I think Peter broke something but Percival took the blame and got a thrashing. Also a swing that broke nearly killing one of the kids.

I think it belonged to my dad (born 1931). His mother was Australian. Possible early C20th.

I was thinking how messed up it was, with the beatings etc and if that reflected real life it must have been a pretty awful existence. My husband who’s a librarian thinks I must have imagined it!

Long shot, but not this?
www.dymocks.com.au/book/storm-boy-55th-anniversary-edition-by-colin-thiele-and-robert-r-ingpen-9781864368048

Perhaps not old enough...

Could the author have been Mary Grant Bruce, from the Billabong series? She did also write two books featuring a "Peter".

Sounds a bit like an Ethel Turner-ish plot to me, (Seven Little Australians is her most well-known work) but I have no further insight and a quick Google hasn’t helped.

The most famous Percival (Mr Percival) in Australian children’s literature is a pelican. (From Colin Thiele’s Storm Boy, someone suggested above).

Best of luck for your search! 🙂

Thank you all! It was defo a (disabled) boy not a bird! I think there was a spoilt little girl as well maybe Bella?

It struck me as rather a sadistic book towards children, maybe that was the style in those days though.

Was it I can jump puddles about a boy who contracts polio

This was a boy who had a crooked spine. Maybe scoliosis. Though it’s not given a medical definition as such.

There was an Australian children's TV programme called 'Colour in the Creek' which was set in the 1930s (TV programme from the 80s). A lot the dramas on children's TV were based on books.
I have no memory of the plot.... gonna Google.

Ok... I don't think it was Colour in the Creek. A quick Google says that was about the Gold Rush in 30s Australia and sounds completely different !!