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[Anna] Nise, a Chiorstaidh, mar a thuirt mi rugadh tusa ann an Tasmania. Thusa eòlach air an deasbad a th’ ann mu dheidhinn nan tùsanach agus droch-làimhseachadh air na tùsanaich chun an latha an-diugh.

[Ciorstaidh] Tha, yeah, ’s e rud a th’ ann a tha mi air a bhith eòlach air bhon a bha mi gu math òg. Tha mo mhàthair Astràilianach agus an teaghlach, bha mòran teaghlach againn a-null an sin agus bhithinn a’ tilleadh air ais uaireannan gus tadhal orra agus bhiodh m’ athair agus mo mhàthair gar toirt gu bailtean beaga tùsanach air iomall Astràilia, anns an outback no gu math fada tuath agus tha e dìreach inntinneach faicinn an dòigh-beatha a tha cho eadar-dhealaichte agus nach eil, chan eil mòran tuigse ann, tha mi a’ smaoineachadh, eadar na diofar choimhearsnachdan.

[Anna] Agus gu bheil iad fa leth fhathast.

[Ciorstaidh] Tha, gu math fa leth.

[Anna] Nise, thàinig an teaghlach agaibhse a dh’Alba. Bha thusa gu math beag aig an àm. A bheil cuimhne idir agad ann a bhith ann an Astràilia?

[Ciorstaidh] Tha dìreach aon chuimhne agam agus bha mi gu math òg ’s bha mi ann am pram agus feumaidh gun robh sinn ann am pàirc le beathaichean no rudeigin agus dìreach ruith emu seachad orm agus ghabh mi eagal mo bheatha.

[Anna] Chan eil sin na iongnadh!

[Ciorstaidh] Sin uile a tha mi a’ cuimhneachadh gus do ghluais sinn gu Alba.

[Anna] ’S thàinig sibh an uair sin a dh’Alba. Tha fhios gur e atharrachadh mòr a bha siud dha do mhàthair ’s dha ...

[Ciorstaidh] Atharrachadh mòr.

[Anna] Tè a bhuineadh dha Astràilia.

[Ciorstaidh] Seadh, aidh, tha mi a’ smaoineachadh gun robh i ga fhaighinn gu math doirbh aig an toiseach. Dìreach bha an aimsir cho eadar-dhealaichte. Tha e cho teth ’s cho blàth ann an Astràilia ’s bha sinn a’ fuireach air an Eilean Sgitheanach agus bha i a’ faighinn an aimsir gu math doirbh. Cuideachd gun robh uisge ann, uisge a’ tuiteam …

[Anna Mhàrtainn] Fad an t-siubhail.

[Ciorstaidh] … fad an t-siubhail. ’S dòcha gun robh ise ga fhaicinn mar sin. Bha i ga fhaighinn gu math doirbh.

[Anna] Agus tha ceangal Astràilianach ris a’ chiad leabhar a thagh thusa cuideachd.

[Ciorstaidh] Tha.

[Anna] Dè an leabhar a th’ ann?

[Ciorstaidh] ’S e leabhar Josh le Ivan Southall agus ’s e leabhar a th’ ann an seo a leugh mi an toiseach nuair a bha mi ’s dòcha aon deug no dà dheug bliadhna a dh’aois ’s bha mi gu math òg. ’S e ùghdar Astràilianach gu math ainmeil a th’ ann ach chan eil mi a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil daoine eòlach air an leabhar seo ann am Breatainn, ann an Alba.

[Anna] Cò mu dheidhinn a tha e? Leabhar a th’ ann de, nobhail dha deugairean, ane ?

[Ciorstaidh] ’S ann dha deugairean a tha e, uh huh, ach tha e a’ còrdadh rium cho math ri leabhar sam bith eile fhathast, agus tha e mu dheidhinn balach òg, ’s dòcha ceithir deug bliadhna a dh’aois, a tha a’ falbh gu, a thadhal air an antaidh aige air an dùthaich, ann am baile beag Astràilianach agus ’s e balach a th’ ann a tha, tha e gu math dèidheil air leabhraichean, tha e a’ sgrìobhadh bàrdachd agus fear a th’ ann a bhiodh furasta a ghoirteachadh tha mi a’ smaoineachadh. Tha fòirneart ann agus tha tachartas ann far a bheil Josh ann an cunnart a bheatha cha mhòr. Agus an uair sin tha seòrsa tuigse a’ fàs às dèidh sin eadar Josh agus a’ chlann eile sa bhaile, ach tha Josh a’ dèanamh taghadh e fhèin a thoirt a-mach agus coiseachd dhachaigh gu Millburn agus am baile fhàgail air a chùl.

[Anna] Balach beag a bh’ ann a bhiodh a’ dèanamh tòrr leughaidh. An robh thusa ag aithneachadh an t-seòrsa caractair a bha siud?

[Ciorstaidh] Bha. Bha mi fhìn ’s dòcha caran coltach ri Josh nuair a bha mi na b’ òige. Bha mi fhèin gam ghlasadh nam rùm le leabhraichean agus dìreach glacte nam eanchainn fhèin agus tha mi a’ smaoineachadh anns an dòigh sin gun robh mi a’ tuigsinn Josh.

[Anna] Bha thu a’ dèanamh ceangal eadar thu fhèin ’s an caractar.

[Ciorstaidh] Bha.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Leugh Mi, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2015.

[Anna] Now, Kirsty, as I said you were born in Tasmania. You know about the debate about aborigines and the maltreatment of aborigines up until the present day.

[Kirsty] Yes, yeah, it is something that I have known about since I was very young. My mother is Australian and the family, we have a lot of family over there and I would go back sometimes to visit them and my father and mother would take us to aboriginal villages on the periphory of Australia, in the outback or very far north and it is just interesting seeing their lifestyle that is so different and isn’t, there is not much understanding, I don’t think, between the communities.

[Anna] And they are still separate.

[Kirsty] Yes, very separate.

[Anna] Now, your family came to Scotland. You were very little at the time. Do you have any recollection of being in Australia?

[Kirsty] I only have one memory and I was very young and I was in a pram and we must have been in a wildlife park or something and just an emu ran past me and I got the fright of my life.

[Anna] That isn’t surprising!

[Kirsty] That’s all that I remember until we moved to Scotland.

[Anna] And you then came to Scotland. Surely that was a huge change for your mother and for …

[Kirsty] A huge change.

[Anna] A woman that comes from Australia.

[Kirsty] Uh huh, aye, I think that she found it very difficult at the beginning. Just the weather was so different. It is so hot and so warm in Australia and we were living on the Isle of Skye and she found the weather very difficult. Also the rain, rain falling …

[Anne Martin] All the time.

[Kirsty] … all the time. Perhaps she saw it like that. She found it very difficult.

[Anna] And there is an Australian connection with the first book that you have chosen too.

[Kirsty] Yes.

[Anna] What book is it?

[Kirsty] It is the book Josh by Ivan Southall and this is a book that I read initially when I was perhaps eleven or twelve years old and I was very young. He is a very famous Australian author but I don’t think that people know of this book in Britain, in Scotland.

[Anna] What is it about? It is a book for, a novel for teenagers, is it?

[Kirsty] It is for teenagers, uh huh, but I still like it just as much as any other book, and it is about a young boy, perhaps fourteen years old, who goes to, to visit his auntie in the country, in an Australian village and he is a boy who, he is very fond of books, he writes poetry and is a boy who would be easily hurt I think. There is violence and there is an incident in which Josh’s life is nearly endangered. And then a sort of understanding grows after that between Josh and the other children in the village, but Josh makes the decision to take himself out and walk home to Millburn and leave the village behind him.

[Anna] A wee boy who did lots of reading. Did you recognise that sort of character?

[Kirsty] Yes. I was perhaps quite similar to Josh when I was younger. I locked myself in my room with books and I was caught in my own imagination and I think in that sense I understood Josh.

[Anna] You made a connection between yourself and the character.

[Kirsty] Yes.

This programme, Leugh Mi, was first broadcast in 2015.