Book excerpt: "Whirlaway: A Story of the Ages" is a fantasy novel by the Australian writer Henry Charles Morant. It tells the story of a young girl, Helen, and her pet koala, Tirri, who are taken on an adventure through the ages of time by Whirlaway, an elf-like creature. Starting with the period of the dinosaurs onwards, they witness the sights and sounds of different times. The author's claim is that, "In this tale there are no "Snarks" or "Boojums," "Guffer Birds" or "Pobbles," but only veritable creatures that lived and moved and ceased to be ages ago. It adds to the interest of the story that what is said and represented pictorially of those queer creatures, is vouched for by high scientific authority."