KERRIE-RAE ELLIS IS PUTTING CULTURE, FAMILY AND POSSIBILITY ON THE PAGE
By Lynnese O’Donoghue
Ngaarda Media caught up with Kerrie-Rae Ellis at the Inagural Karlyurra Roebourne Rodeo, where she jumped on Ngaarda Radio live with our outside broadcaster Lynnese O’Donoghue to share her friendship with Brian “BT” Tucker, what brought her to the Karlayura Roebourne Rodeo all the way from the East Coast and chat about her childrens books.
Kerrie-Rae Ellis being interviewed by Lynnese O’Donoghue, Outside Broadcast for Ngaarda Radio at the Karlayura Roebourne Rodeo.
Before moving into community services, Kerrie-Rae Ellis worked in Western Australia’s mining industry, including alongside Banjima and Nyiyaparli Elder Brian “BT” Tucker at Aboriginal-owned mining services business Karlayura. This where there friendship begins and how Kerrie-Rae was invited with her family to attend the Karlayura Roebourne Rodeo.
Kerrie-Rae then moved into work supporting children and families, the Iningai woman began seeing first-hand the challenges facing families dealing with trauma, disadvantage and the everyday pressure of making ends meet.
Rather than simply observing those challenges, she began writing.
Today, Kerrie-Rae is the author, illustrator and self-publisher behind a growing collection of children's books centred on a tiny Moodle named Miss Mollie and her adventures with four teddy-bear friends.
Kerrie- Rae has 30 works under her name, an achievement Kerrie-Rae herself admits may have become a little addictive.
“I think sometimes I would get a little bit out of control in doing that,” she laughed.
“But I think it's the love of doing it as well. And every part of it is finding a new creation, a new avenue.”
Her work combines children's storytelling with her own contemporary Aboriginal artwork, while a number of her Miss Mollie stories have also been produced with Gumbaynggirr language incorporated into them.
Kerrie-Rae Ellis, Children’s book in Gumbaynggir language, Kalari, Rungie & Tarni - The Bush Tucker Catch. Credit: missmolliebooks.com
But behind the bright illustrations and playful adventures is a very deliberate philosophy.
Kerrie-Rae says her years working with children and families made her think carefully about the kind of activities she included in her books.
She wanted children to be able to participate regardless of how much money their family had.
One story might include something as simple as a Johnny Cake recipe — an activity a family can make together without an expensive outing, equipment or ticket attached.
“I think about children and families that don't have a big wage in the household,” she said.
Her professional life reflects that focus. Kerrie-Rae holds a Bachelor in Management and Professional Studies and a Diploma in Counselling, and has worked with children, young people and families.
The Miss Mollie books take ordinary experiences and turn them into opportunities for children to read, learn and imagine.
There are backyard adventures, trips to Bunnings, birthdays, Christmas celebrations and journeys around the Coffs Coast.
Miss Mollie is a character based on Kerrie-Rae's real-life little black Moodle and her teddy friends Silky, Sasha, Harry and Simone.
Kerrie Rae Ellis with real life little black Moddle, Miss Mollie
Kerrie-Rae has largely built that publishing world herself.
Her first experience came when a Melbourne publisher agreed to publish one of her books and, importantly, showed her how the process worked.
What followed was a crash course in self-publishing.
“He then taught me actually how to self-publish,” Kerrie-Rae said.
From there, she turned to the internet, teaching herself the skills she needed to continue.
“Google is a great tool,” she said.
“Getting on there and learning and just looking at videos, putting in what you want to learn and just spending that time to actually self-teach is just amazing.”
She had built Miss Mollie from her ideas and imagaination and is now a credited author, illustrator, photographer, artist, publisher and even built the website herself.
Technology is also opening another chapter. Rather than fearing artificial intelligence, Kerrie-Rae believes emerging technology can give independent creators access to tools that were once financially out of reach.
“If we use it wisely and use it for the best, we could get the best out of it,” she said.
For Kerrie-Rae, that can mean writing a song to accompany a children's book and using technology to help bring that song to life, something that previously may have required the cost of a producer and studio.
Her work has increasingly become connected with culture and community as well.
Several Miss Mollie books are available in editions incorporating Gumbaynggirr language, while her contemporary Aboriginal artwork uses meeting places, pathways, rivers and waterholes to tell stories about family, Country and connection.
Author Kerrie Rae Ellis
In 2025, Kerrie-Rae was recognised as a finalist in the Grace Roberts Memorial Community Development Award during Coffs Harbour's Yandaarra Aunty Grace Roberts Community Awards. She also appeared as a special guest for children's storytime during the city's NAIDOC Week celebrations.
But her next book will be very different.
After spending years writing stories for children, Kerrie-Rae has begun working on a memoir about her own childhood.
Potentially being published as Behind the Woman
It will explore being raised in a deeply religious environment, the foundations that upbringing gave her, and her experiences growing up as a dark-skinned Aboriginal girl in a society where expectations about who she could be were very different.
Although she is no longer part of that religion, Kerrie-Rae says there are lessons from those years she has carried with her.
“I just probably want to give heritage to where I've come from and the family and what it meant to be, especially an Aboriginal woman, very dark-skinned, in a very, if I use the word, white society,” she said.
Kerrie-Rae Ellis, Fell in love with the red dirt and clear big skies on her visit to the Pilbara
It is a story about where she came from, but also about what became possible as boundaries shifted and, as Kerrie-Rae puts it, “all the rules sometimes have been broken.”
And even after dozens of books, she is thinking beyond her own writing.
Kerrie-Rae wants to pass on the knowledge she had to teach herself ,potentially helping other people learn how to self-publish and put their own stories into the world.
For a woman whose career has moved from mining to supporting vulnerable children, community work, art and publishing, that may ultimately be the thread connecting it all.
Giving people the tools to tell their own stories and making sure children can see a world of possibility when they open a book.