A father, a storyteller, and a man who wrote his best work at bedtime for the two little boys who inspired every word.

Jimmy Budgen wrote Slim The Horse, Wombat and Willy Wagtail in September 2003, while living and working as a project manager in Weipa, a small mining town in far north Queensland’s Cape York region, known for its Bauxite deposits. Far from home, bedtime stories became his most treasured ritual with his sons Jacob and Benjamin, then aged six and nine.

What started as a bedtime story grew into something more, a tale of friendship, hardship, and endurance, set across the vast and varied landscapes of Queensland, from the dry outback west to the lush green mountains of the southeast. The story was lovingly illustrated by Reg Seabourn, a power station attendant in Weipa who also drew cartoons for the local paper, and who generously brought Jimmy’s characters to life with unforgettable charm.