In her memoir A Dolphin Called Jock Melody describes her relationship with a wild, disfigured, solitary dolphin called Jock, who lived in Adelaide’s Port River.  

Melody describes how, as a traumatized young woman, she hid behind a carefully crafted exterior having experienced a childhood filled with emotional and physical abuse, mainly at the hands of her violent father. It left Melody feeling lost and alone.

When she decided to change her life and complete her schooling, she volunteered to help her university professor monitor pods of river dolphins in a local estuary. There, she encountered Jock, a solitary, scarred wild dolphin with a maimed fin. Melody formed a bond with Jock that helped her heal—and sent her on a life-changing quest to save the river dolphins.