in full colour, of Blinky Bill, Splodge and friends in the army, called Our Squad. Largely because of the cost and rarity of paper during the war, none was ever published. In 1940, Wall decided her priority was a new Blinky Bill book with Angus & Robertson. In a letter to her publisher, she wrote: "I'll have to do my utmost to get a new Blinky book out for next Christmas. I could do a good story with Blinky on National Service, providing the war continues – but I am not that wicked to wish such a thing". In February 1940 she sent her publisher the completed text for Blinky Bill Joins the Army. The publisher was unimpressed by her story of Blinky as an enlisted soldier, calling it 'heavy going' and a too obvious exploitation of 'patriotic fervour'. Wall apparently tore up the manuscript and wrote an entirely new version where Blinky remains in his familiar bush setting until the final pages then goes off to join the army – as a mascot. The new version was finished by the end of April 1940, less than a month after the first had been rejected; it was published for Christmas 1940. In December 1942 the Blinky Bill's Dress-Up Book was published by Offset Printing Company, which was released after Wall's death, in January 1942. This was followed in 1947 by Blinky Bill's ABC Book and A Tiny Story of Blinky Bill, also published by Offset. In 1971, Angus & Robertson published “Blinky Bill and the Rabbit’s Birthday Party”, based on Dorothy Wall’s Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill, which was adapted by Carol Odell and illustrated by Walter Stackpool. In 1977 Angus & Robertson published the Blinky Bill Cookbook, a series of recipes for children to make for themselves by Mary Coleman, which included Wall's original illustrations redrawn by Trevor Hood. Adaptations and cultural references Although the books have never been out of print, Blinky Bill has also been adapted for television and cinema. The first television series, titled The New Adventures of Blinky Bill, aired in the 1980s on ABC TV and combined live-action actors with puppetry for the animal characters. The franchise was also made into an animated movie, Blinky Bill: The Mischievous Koala, released by Yoram Gross Films Studio in 1992. The following year, a second television series was aired, The Adventures of Blinky Bill. This was also