Oh, this is magical. You've always got a knack for beautiful descriptions, Augs, and the outback and Star Valley shine (ha!) through as always. This story creates a great feel of the danger and wonder of your magical Australia, though I'll admit I had to go look up what a malingee was. I was going to raise a criticism that the "womba" set up had no real payoff until I looked again at the mysterious and unsettling ending, and I'm going to retract that concern, as the ambiguity works perfectly. The sudden magic woman thing is a bit jarring and could be smoothed a bit, but it works overall, and the whole piece is a great read.

I always enjoy your little journeys into the fantasy Outback enormously. It's clearly a world you've spent some good time fleshing out. This story is lots of fun, love the creepy little twist at the end.

I get a Texas Chainsaw Massacre feeling when I read this. Though it has a bit of the mysticism of a folklore story, which just adds the intrigue.