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'If we are to take seriously the need for telling the truth about our history, we must start at first principles.
'What if the sovereignty of the First Nations was recognised by European international law in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? What if the audacious British annexation of a whole continent was not seen as acceptable at the time and the colonial office in Britain understood that 'peaceful settlement' was a fiction? If the 1901 parliament did not have control of the whole continent, particularly the North, by what right could the new nation claim it?
'The historical record shows that the argument of the Uluru Statement from the Heart is stronger than many people imagine and the centuries-long legal position about British claims to the land far less imposing than it appears.
'In Truth-Telling, influential historian Henry Reynolds pulls the rug from legal and historical assumptions, with his usual sharp eye and rigour, in a book that's about the present as much as the past. His work shows exactly why our national war memorial must acknowledge the frontier wars, why we must change the date of our national day, and why treaties are important. Most of all, it makes urgently clear that the Uluru Statement is no rhetorical flourish but carries the weight of history and law and gives us a map for the future.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Review] Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History Journal , April no. 45 2022;
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism 'Henry Reynolds has been truth-telling for the better part of 50 years. Books such as The Other Side of the Frontier (1981), Frontier: Aborigines, Settlers and Land (1987), This Whispering in Our Hearts (1998), An Indelible Stain? The Question of Genocide in Australia’s History (2001), and Forgotten War (2014), each reveal uncomfortable truths about Australia’s past, as well as the unevenness of its remembrance.' (Introduction) -
The Moral Complexity of Truth-telling
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , February 2021;
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism 'Big personalities vie with an unforgiving marketplace in this insider’s view of publishing' -
Henry Reynolds on Conceptual Dissonances of Australian Sovereignty
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 18 no. 4 2021; (p. 896-897)
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism'In his latest publication, Henry Reynolds surveys international laws that challenge the audacious claim the British made on the Australian continent in the eighteenth century. In his trademark enigmatic style, Reynolds draws our attention to two significant sections of Uluru Statement from the Heart authored at the National Constitutional Convention held at Uluru in 2017, which calls for a Makarrata (Yolgnu – coming together after a struggle). The first declares that First Nations peoples never ‘ceded or extinguished’ sovereignty over their land and secondly this sovereignty ‘coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown’ (viii–ix). The book’s timely arrival amidst increasing demands for truth-telling about Australia’s colonial past strikes a decisive blow to long-held assumptions about the basis on which European sovereignty was established.' (Introduction)
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Novel Ideas : The Books Scott Morrison Should Have on His Summer Reading List
2021
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 December 2021;'Every year Grattan Institute compiles a list of essential reads for the PM. Here’s what it has recommended this time.'
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Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart AND Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 52 no. 4 2021; (p. 644-648)
— Review of Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement from the Heart 2021 multi chapter work criticism ; Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism'These two books both have the Uluru Statement in their title and share the same publisher. In one sense, they are a mirror image of each other. Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a clearly written and accessible text explaining constitutional law that also narrates, addresses, and advocates history, while Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement, also clear and accessible, is a work of history that is concerned with the law. They also complement each other. Megan Davis and George Williams explain how truth-telling came to be part of the Uluru Statement, while Henry Reynolds outlines what he sees as the historical truths that must be told and indicates where he thinks truth-telling processes might lead. Yet the content of the two books is very different. If we consider the Uluru Statement slogan ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’, then Everything You Need to Know is primarily about Voice, while Truth-Telling is about Treaty and Truth. For historians, Everything You Need to Know is a must-read. While many historians will find that Truth-Telling covers some very familiar ground, its last few chapters send out an important challenge to the way we remember and commemorate some key figures in Australian political history. Reynolds suggests we ask some tough new questions, for example: should Griffith University change its name?' (Introduction)
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The Uluru Statement in Historical Context
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2021;
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism'Launching Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark’s The History Wars (2003), Paul Keating described history as ‘our most useful tool and guide’, claiming that ‘knowing our past helps us to divine our future’. Disputes about the scale of frontier violence during Britain’s colonisation of Australia have always been about Australia’s present and future as much as our past. Whether we view colonisation as a process of genocide and expropriation or as largely peaceful has significant symbolic and practical stakes, affecting its commemoration and the necessity of compensation or land rights.' (Introduction)
-
Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart AND Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 52 no. 4 2021; (p. 644-648)
— Review of Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement from the Heart 2021 multi chapter work criticism ; Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism'These two books both have the Uluru Statement in their title and share the same publisher. In one sense, they are a mirror image of each other. Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a clearly written and accessible text explaining constitutional law that also narrates, addresses, and advocates history, while Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement, also clear and accessible, is a work of history that is concerned with the law. They also complement each other. Megan Davis and George Williams explain how truth-telling came to be part of the Uluru Statement, while Henry Reynolds outlines what he sees as the historical truths that must be told and indicates where he thinks truth-telling processes might lead. Yet the content of the two books is very different. If we consider the Uluru Statement slogan ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’, then Everything You Need to Know is primarily about Voice, while Truth-Telling is about Treaty and Truth. For historians, Everything You Need to Know is a must-read. While many historians will find that Truth-Telling covers some very familiar ground, its last few chapters send out an important challenge to the way we remember and commemorate some key figures in Australian political history. Reynolds suggests we ask some tough new questions, for example: should Griffith University change its name?' (Introduction)
-
Henry Reynolds on Conceptual Dissonances of Australian Sovereignty
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 18 no. 4 2021; (p. 896-897)
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism'In his latest publication, Henry Reynolds surveys international laws that challenge the audacious claim the British made on the Australian continent in the eighteenth century. In his trademark enigmatic style, Reynolds draws our attention to two significant sections of Uluru Statement from the Heart authored at the National Constitutional Convention held at Uluru in 2017, which calls for a Makarrata (Yolgnu – coming together after a struggle). The first declares that First Nations peoples never ‘ceded or extinguished’ sovereignty over their land and secondly this sovereignty ‘coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown’ (viii–ix). The book’s timely arrival amidst increasing demands for truth-telling about Australia’s colonial past strikes a decisive blow to long-held assumptions about the basis on which European sovereignty was established.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History Journal , April no. 45 2022;
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism 'Henry Reynolds has been truth-telling for the better part of 50 years. Books such as The Other Side of the Frontier (1981), Frontier: Aborigines, Settlers and Land (1987), This Whispering in Our Hearts (1998), An Indelible Stain? The Question of Genocide in Australia’s History (2001), and Forgotten War (2014), each reveal uncomfortable truths about Australia’s past, as well as the unevenness of its remembrance.' (Introduction) -
The Moral Complexity of Truth-telling
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , February 2021;
— Review of Truth-Telling : History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement 2021 multi chapter work criticism 'Big personalities vie with an unforgiving marketplace in this insider’s view of publishing' -
The Ultimate Gesture of Respect : The Appeal of Truth-Telling
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 429 2021; (p. 8-9) 'In the wake of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, truth-telling has gained new currency in Australia. The Statement called for a ‘Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history’. Although yet to be fleshed out in any detail, the renewed call for truth-telling has been greeted with enthusiasm by many First Nations peoples and their allies around the continent, who endorse the view that shining the bright light of truth into the darkest recesses of Australian history will contribute to a transformation in Indigenous–settler relations.' (Introduction) -
Novel Ideas : The Books Scott Morrison Should Have on His Summer Reading List
2021
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 December 2021;'Every year Grattan Institute compiles a list of essential reads for the PM. Here’s what it has recommended this time.'
Awards
- 2022 longlisted Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History
- 2022 shortlisted Tasmania Book Prizes Tasmanian Literary Awards — Premier's Prize for Non-fiction
- 2022 longlisted Colin Roderick Award
- 2022 shortlisted Ernest Scott Prize
- 2021 shortlisted Educational Publishing Awards Australia — Tertiary Education — Scholarly Non-Fiction Book of the Year