Author Archives: Patricia Smith

Once there was a young wombat named Benson, who lived in a nice little hole in the ground with his mother and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. Benson’s mother was going to a council meeting. “What’s a council meeting?” asked Benson. “It’s when a lot of wombats go to a meeting and argue aContinue reading “The Meeting”

Once there was a young wombat called Benson who lived in a hole in the ground with his mother and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. One morning Aunt Moss was peeling apples at the kitchen bench. Benson was at the table, colouring dragons. All of a sudden Aunt Moss gave a kind of screamContinue reading “The Spider”

Once there was a young wombat named Benson, who lived in a very nice hole in the ground with his mother, and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. One day Benson got some sticky tape stuck in his hair. ‘Oh dear,’ said Aunt Moss, ‘you’ll have to soak your head in eucalyptus oil to getContinue reading “Sticky Tape”

Once there was a young wombat whose name was Benson, who lived in a fairly nice hole in the ground with his mother and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. One day Benson decided to go fishing. He took his dark green fishing rod, and a bucket of worms and went down to the river.Continue reading “Benson Goes Fishing”

Once there was a young wombat named Benson, who lived in quite a nice hole in the ground with his mother and his two aunts, Lillibet, and Moss. One day he was just finishing his lunch – cutworms and spaghetti, when his Aunt Lillibet said, ‘Time for you to do the washing-up, Benson.’ She filledContinue reading “Benson and the Saxophone Lesson”

Once there was a young wombat named Benson, who lived in a nice little hole in the ground with his mother, and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. One morning Aunt Lillibet said, “Benson, I don’t like the look of your fingernails. I don’t think they’re up to any serious digging.” Benson had spent theContinue reading “Flower Seeds”

Once there was a young wombat whose name was Benson, and he lived in a nice hole in the ground with his mother and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. One day Aunt Lillibet said, “Benson, I’m going to take you down to the river, and you can practise your swimming.” Benson put on hisContinue reading “Down to the River to Swim”

Once there was a young wombat whose name was Benson. He lived in a nice little hole with his mother, and his two aunts, Lillibet and Moss. One day Benson sat down at the piano. Aunt Lillibet came along. ‘You can’t play the piano,’ she said. ‘Sure I can,’ said Benson. ‘You’ve never played theContinue reading “Benson Plays the Piano”

Telling stories to children is a way of connecting your world to theirs, opening up the space between you to new possibilities and different ways of looking at the world. Writing down the stories you tell means that the ephemeral becomes something you can go back to and remember all over again – but theContinue reading “About the Benson stories”