AustLit

'Jan Morris, a Welsh travel writer who knew a thing or two about identity transition, predicted in her 1992 book Sydney that mainstream Australia was about to embrace its Aboriginal heritage. Just as the convict stain had lost its stigma, the “taint” of native blood would, she anticipated, soon become cause for celebration rather than shame. Perhaps she had been influenced by the huge success of My Place, Sally Morgan’s 1987 memoir of Palyku identity, which had Australians searching their family trees in droves.' (Introduction) 

'Lucy Campbell was nervous. In March, the South Australian screenwriter had travelled to Austin, Texas. Her debut feature was playing at South by Southwest (SXSW), the music and fi lm festival that has launched careers as well as Oscar winners such as Everything Everywhere All at Once. Watching her fi lm with an audience, she tells me, she saw it with fresh eyes. They seemed into it, and she was hanging on their every gasp. Suddenly, it dawned on her: “This audience is kinda scared.”' 

(Introduction)