The following trail is linked to the The BlackWords Essays by Dr Anita Heiss, published by AustLit in 2015. They bring together the works, authors and organisations that are mentioned in the essays and support the teaching and incorporation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander texts in teaching and general reading.
'When non-Aboriginal Australians talk of “stories of place” with an Aboriginal context in mind, many immediately think of traditional stories, stories used by our old people to pass on cultural information and knowledge, or the history of a specific geographic region, and the significant sites of such areas.'
'For Aboriginal writers, stories of place include those where families in the past were removed to, once their traditional lands were taken. These ‘created spaces’ (for example missions and reserves) became places of significant meaning for many, while at the same time they were physically disconnecting them from their own country.' (Heiss, Anita, BlackWords: Writers on Country. 2015)
'Life In Gadigal Country is the first anthology of writing published by Gadigal Information Service, and a tribute to the Gadigal peoples of Sydney.'
'The book is a collection of writings of some of the strongest political voices, by some of the most promising cotemporary writers, about some of the most significant issues that have faced the first peoples of the country known as Gadigal Country, since the process of colonisation began in 1788.' (Source: Anita Heiss website)
(...more)'These poems pulse with the language and images of a mangrove-lined river city, the beckoning highway, the just-glimpsed muse, the tug of childhood and restless ancestors. For the first time Samuel Wagan Watson's poetry has been collected into this stunning volume, which includes a final section of all new work.' (Source: UQP website: www.uqp.uq.edu.au)
(...more)This work contains the poems, Jaded Olympic Moments, Abandoned factories, Deo Optimo Maximo and Recipe for Metropolis Brisbane, about the city of Brisbane by Sam Wagan Watson, he 'separates out the layers of the city landscape and the reader treks with him mentally and physically, searching for the perfect creative inspirational space for him as a writer.' ((Heiss, Anita, BlackWords: Writers on Country. 2015)
'In writing about the significance of space, sense of place and connection to country, many writers are also penning stories of life on the fringe. Aboriginal people in Australia live in a particular space, it is called the fringe – and it exists geographically, psychologically and socially - and it is from this very space that many often find the motivation to create.' (Heiss, Anita, BlackWords: Writers on Country. 2015)
'The Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia provide a rich foundation for literature being produced by Indigenous writers and storytellers.' (Heiss, Anita, BlackWords: Writers on Country. 2015)
See below poetry, biographies and life stories from the Kimberley and Pilbara regions.
First line of poem: Uncle often said - Yamatjis are rich people
Note: A Yamatji or Yamitji is an Aboriginal person from the north-west of Western Australia (ie the Pilbara, the Gascoyne and the Murchison areas).
'A beautifully illustrated account of the life of Magdalene Williams of the Nyul Nyul people. Raised in the confines of Beagle Bay mission in the Kimberley, she was nevertheless exposed to her traditional culture through her Elders. Magdalene's account of the coming of the missionaries, and the destruction of Law and culture is interwoven with the richness and diversity of her Nyul Nyul stories.' (Source: Publisher's website)
(...more)'A fascinating account of a people from the far north Kimberley of Western Australia who have experienced upheaval on a monumental scale. Chalarimeri tells of the customs of his ‘people from the sunrise side’ and what he calls ‘the clash of two cultures’. His views on contemporary issues that are impacting on his beloved country—native title, appropriation of rock art, Aboriginal health and the effects of tourism on the pristine Kimberley wilderness are compelling.' (Source: publishers website)
(...more)'The aim of this project was to use oral histories collected by Wangka Maya from elderly Aboriginal people of the region...to tell the Indigenous history of Port Hedland and the Pilbara region...' (Source: Listen to the Old People, 2000:3)
(...more)Kupa Piti is an Anangu phrase for white man's hole in the ground.
'In terms of those ‘other’ spaces written by Aboriginal peoples in Australia, there are church run missions and government run reserves, and the institutions used as holding areas for Aboriginal people rounded up like cattle under policies of ‘protection’, creating fringe camps for fringe dwellers, and removing people from what they defined as home.' (Heiss, Anita, BlackWords: Writers on Country~. 2015)
See Biographies, life stories and poems below:
"Most people call me Auntie Rita, whites as well as Aboriginal people. Auntie is a term of respect of our older women folk. You don't have to be blood-related or anything. Everyone is kin. That's a beautiful thing because in this way no one is ever truly alone, they always have someone they can turn to."
Rita Huggins told her memories to her daughter Jackie, and some of their conversation is in this book. We witness their intimacy, their similarities and their differences, the '"fighting with their tongues".
(...more)This work contains a collection of poems in which Cec Fisher, observed and recorded events as they happen, and events that happened in the past.
(...more)'It is estimated now that nearly five thousand Aboriginal authors have been published in Australia since the cultural impact of colonisation occurred. However this seems rare or vague knowledge to the outskirts of Australian literature. It seems this contribution by Aboriginal writers is somewhat limited to access or obtain for the general public who enjoy a good read, or seek an historical view point...' (Source: Cobby Eckermann Ali, and Fogarty Lionel, Southerly Vol. 71 No. 2 2011:8-11)
(...more)'This anthology of poetry brings together all the big names in Aboriginal writing and features a wide array of styles and topics. With a foreword by Kim Scott – joint winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2000, for his novel Benang. (Publication summary)
(...more)'This absorbing and personal account of Wik activist Jean George Awumpun offers a rare understanding of Aboriginal identity and traditional land. To illustrate her proud Alngith Wikwaya beginnings, Awumpun's early history is told through family member and Alngith descendant Fiona Doyle. This ancestral history combines with the story of Awumpun's struggle in the Wik native title claims, which advanced the earlier Mabo Decision onto mainland Australia.
(...more)'Jagera is Lionel Fogarty's sixth volume of poetry.' (Source: Back cover)
(...more)'Stories Without End includes writing that is complex, innovative, and polished, and writing that is raw, rugged, and passionate. In their different ways, all the pieces are powerful...' (Source: editorial, Southerly Vol. 62 No. 2 2002: 5-6)
(...more)'A marvellous celebration of the life of Jessie Lennon. Jessie was born in the 1920's in central Australia where she has spent all her life living a way of life that has almost disappeared.' (Source: Online)
(...more)'Robert Lowe's affection and regard for "The Mish", a property in Victoria's southwest, originally an Aboriginal mission, is warmly conveyed in this candid memoir. In the 1950s and 60s when Robert was growing up, "The Mish" was a close knit community made up of the Aboriginal descendants of Framlingham Aboriginal Mission Station, founded in 1865. Robert's adventurous boyhood was a secured and unfettered time spent with his siblings and cousins enjoying hunting, fishing and eel trapping.
(...more)'Charmaine Papertalk-Green’s poetry is intense and direct. She says what she means and is willing to take on issues that affect her community from outside and from within. She writes of Indigenous loss, but also about tensions and conflicts among her own people. For Papertalk-Green, culture isn’t in the past, it’s all around in the here and now.' (Source: Publisher's website)
(...more)'Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia’s past is required.
(...more)'According to the 2006 Census, around three-quarters of Indigenous Australians live in regional areas or major cities. This represents a small, but noticeable increase from previous census years, especially in large regional towns. While most measured socioeconomic outcomes are advantageous relative to remote parts of the country, there are still substantial gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in regional and urban Australia. This paper focuses on which cities and large towns Indigenous Australians live in, how the Indigenous population is distributed by neighbourhood within these cities and towns, and what the characteristics of the neighbourhoods are in which Indigenous Australians are concentrated.
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