Michael Salmon, the author of the Whose Behind the Door series, The Pirate Who Wouldn't Wash, and the Monster Who Ate Australia has sold several million books worldwide since he started drawing a surfie cartoon strip back in the Seventies. The children of Australia have voted his books, toys and board games their favourite and his ABC national TV show, Alexander Bunyip's Billabong entertained a generation.

Married with two daughters and four stepchildren, Michael Salmon grew up in New Zealand, England and Australia. However, his formative years were spent surfing at Bondi beach while attending Scots College.

'It was the Sydney of the early Sixties, Johnny O'Keefe, Little Pattie, Billy Thorpe and Surf City up at the Cross. I was one of those kids who loved drawing surfing cartoons. My hymnbook was full of them. So much for the sermons!'

As a 19-year-old, he joined the famous marionette troupe, The Tintookies at the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. He went on to become their Artistic Director designing shows for them, including the first children's show at the Opera House.

'We toured The Tintookies around the country and that's where I learned about the things that make kids laugh. Aboriginal children from the Outback, kids from the western suburbs; Double Bay or Toorak - it doesn't matter where they're from, they all laugh at the same things.'

Michael Salmon may have seen more school children in the classroom than any other Australian. A million and a quarter, at least, he reckons.

'I've been visiting schools for more than 30 years now,' he says, 'more than 5,000 from Tassie to the Northern Territory. I'm always getting secondary students coming up to tell me they remember me from when they were beginners.

'I entertain the kids, primary and secondary, with what is essentially stand-up comedy - things that get them laughing. When you've got them laughing you've got their attention and you can stray into areas like bullying, or where their creative talent can take them. The highlight is always when I do rapid cartoons of them, the Aboriginal kids, particularly, love that. It's sort of like Rolf Harris without the songs and with a motivational message.'

Michael's experiences with school children led him to create 'Buddy Bear', the anti-bullying spokesfigure for The Allanah and Madeline Foundation. Together with Maree Stanley from the Foundation, the Better Buddies program was created for schools around the country.

'Its message is: It's cool for a big kid to look after a little kid, to care for other children,' Michael Salmons says, 'and its focus is stopping bullying.

'The program is working. Staff at one campus I visited recently up on Cape York peninsula have senior students wearing 'Anti-bullying sashes' in the playground. The younger children sometimes prefer to go directly to these older children, rather than to a teacher, especially in the indigenous communities.

'Mostly the girls have supported it, however time will come when the little boys grow up and remember how the system worked when they needed it. Then, perhaps they too will wear the sash.'

Michael Salmon titles include:

Monster
Dinosaur

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