It was in 1969 that I started drawing Budge the Budgerigar while I was in high school. I kept drawing it until I finished school and then all the drawings went in a box and stayed with me as a treasured possession. I intended one day to get back to it but that took over forty-five years.

Budge is based on the budgerigars we had as pets when I was growing up in Adelaide. We had a green one for awhile then some canaries (they were messy), a light blue one then the one Budge is more connected with, our blue budgerigar.

Budge started off in a cage but very quickly learnt how to escape and fly around outside to his favourite tree. His owners did not really care, he always came back to his cage to sleep and eat seed. Budge’s hobbies were horse racing (he was proud of the fact that he was always able to choose winners) and his cellar which contained expensive wines (or so he thought). In reality, a bird size wine bottle only contains about a teaspoon and unbeknown to Budge, it was non-alcoholic. He is a bird after all!