The deck lurched as the wrecked ship sank. ‘We need to use the goat droppings, sir!’ gasped Jonathon.

Captain Cook stared at the young man.

‘Goat droppings?’

Down in the hold sailors screamed as the water rose …

Ming Qong could feel the bite of the coral that had shattered the Endeavour on the Great Barrier Reef. She could even smell the goat droppings.

If only she were there …

‘The dry droppings absorbed water to seal the sail to the damaged hull so Captain Cook could get the ship to shore,’ droned Mr Boors.

The class snickered at the word ‘droppings’, except for Kayla, who was texting under the desk, and Karuna, trying to balance a pen on his nose, and Tuan, who was reading the last page of the textbook. Again.

Ming sighed.

Mr Boors had a rare talent. Exciting history became dull as soon as he opened his mouth.

‘Jonathon Monkhouse changed history,’ said Mr Boors with no sign of interest at all. ‘Without him Cook would have never returned to England. There wouldn’t have been a British colony at Sydney Cove or today’s Australia. Now if you all turn to page forty-five …’

Ming’s hand shot up before she’d realised it. ‘Sir, why don’t we ever learn about girls who changed history? I mean girls are changing the world right now, like Greta Thunberg and all the girls demonstrating and inventing. Where were girls at all the important times in the past?’

Continue reading the extract here…

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