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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In considering the Meanjin Paper for this edition, we have dived deep into the archives of Meanjin, seeking to honour the voices of those that have come before. Through our reading of the archives, we understand that many of the issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have remained the same for close to 45 years: the failures of government policy and funding that directly impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the devastating impacts of racism, and the social issues that continue to harm our people such as poor health outcomes and suicide. Through our reading, we have also found that our strengths remain the same, a fact that is deeply heartening to us-our families, the care for our children, our culture and its resurgence, and our self-determination and vision for our futures.' (Publication summary)
Notes
-
Contents indexed selectively.
Contents
- Interview : Kath Walker, Jim Davidson (interviewer), single work biography (p. 2-15)
-
State of the Nation?,
single work
criticism
(p. 20-23)'Anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner spoke in his famous 1968 Boyer lecture ‘After the Dreaming’ about the ‘cult of forgetfulness’ that pervaded the Australian national psyche.'
- Ali Cobby Eckermann, single work interview (p. 24-31)
- If I Could Speak, the Way You Doi"If I could speak the way you do", single work poetry (p. 32-33)
- Island Boyi"Old Cape Barren", single work poetry (p. 45)
-
Along the Road, Sadlands,
single work
essay
(p. 46-51)
'We are always on Country, no matter if it is called city or desert, school or bush, road, rock, mountain, beach—even in the prison it is all Indigenous land. This is the settlers’ unpayable debt. I run down by the river on Wurundjeri Country, in morning or night, whether it is lighted by mist or the silver wattle blooms, it’s all the ancestors and the stories of this land, which I can never fully know. It is through art and writing, I think, that we have already begun to reciprocate these stories, to account for and somehow resist malign presences, which, as Charmaine Papertalk Green tells us in ‘More than Balga Grass trees and kangaroos’ (2022) have tried to ‘eras[e] our stories out’. So here:' (Introduction)
-
Diary Entry 01 : Grief & Strong Black Women,
single work
essay
(p. 52-56)
'Welcome to the brain dump and rants of a burnt-out Black woman who has mastered the skills of denial and compartmentalisation around grief and loss.'(Introduction)
- Doan-doan Dhagun, Unya (Dark Place, Mine)i"WARNING: This is not the method in which I choose to compose…", single work poetry (p. 57)
-
In a State of Midlife Flux,
single work
essay
(p. 58-63)
'This year, in April, I turned 45. I also moved into the first house that I have ever bought. It’s taken me until I am thoroughly middle-aged to put down some actual roots. I’m in a suburb that I’ve always felt at home in, in an area that I first moved into as a teenage home-leaver. And despite the fact that the place needs some pretty expensive work to make it sustainable, it feels pretty good to finally have a ‘permanent address’.' (Introduction)
- Tidelinesi"The tideline ridges—a fingerprint impressed on the land,", single work poetry (p. 64-67)
- Truth, single work short story (p. 78-84)
- Especiallyi"We are always sensitive to land but especially tonight", single work poetry (p. 85)
- Home, single work short story (p. 86-93)
- Bamfield Waterfalli"The smell takes me there", single work poetry (p. 94-95)
- Kambera, single work short story (p. 96-101)
- Something Slight, single work short story (p. 102-106)
- Kannai"who will remember us", single work poetry (p. 107)
- Indelible Stainsi"Oh the things that we know but are hard to explain… felt in our bodies not just in the brain", single work poetry (p. 119)
- Black and White and in between : My Family History, single work autobiography (p. 120-123)
- A Thought Train, single work autobiography (p. 124-125)
