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Larissa Behrendt Larissa Behrendt i(A14355 works by) (birth name: Larissa Yasmin Behrendt )
Born: Established: 1969 Cooma, Cooma area, Cooma - Snowy - Bombala area, Southeastern NSW, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal Kamilaroi ; Aboriginal Eualeyai ; Aboriginal
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BiographyHistory

Academic, lawyer and writer, Larissa Behrendt graduated from Harvard Law School with a doctorate in 1998. Her thesis was later published as the book Achieving Social Justice : Indigenous Rights and Australia's Future (2003). She is admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW and the ACT as a barrister.

Since 2001 Behrendt has been Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney and has published extensively on property law, Indigenous rights, dispute resolution and Aboriginal women's issues. Other works include Aboriginal Dispute Resolution (1995).

In 2003 she was awarded, with Marcia Langton, the Neville Bonner Indigenous University Teacher of the Year Award. Behrendt has been a director of Ngiya, National Institute of Indigenous Law, Policy and Practice, a council member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, a Judicial Member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Equal Opportunity Division and the Alternate Chair of the Serious Offenders Review Board. She has also been a Board Member of the Museum of Contemporary Art and a Director of the Sydney Writers' Festival and the Bangarra Dance Theatre.

Behrendt is the daughter of Paul Behrendt. In 2004 she fictionalised the story of her father's search for his Indigenous heritage in her novel Home

In 2009 she was named NAIDOC person of the year and in March 2011 became the first Chair of Indigenous Research at the University of Technology, Sydney. Since April 2011, Larissa's column Pointed View is a regular in Tracker magazine.


Other Works:

First Australians. Edited with Cathy Hammer, Sydney Legal Information Access Centre, 2013.

Indigenous Australia for Dummies, Wiley, 2012. 

Exhibitions

10222209
16842183
11859989

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • In addition to works individually indexed on AustLit, Larissa Behrendt has also published the following :

    After the Apology (documentary with Michaela Perske) (2017)

Personal Awards

2020 recipient Order of Australia Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)  For distinguished service to Indigenous education and research, to the law, and to the visual and performing arts.
2019 joint winner UTS Human Rights Awards UTS Indigenous Excellence Award

with Paddy Gibson and Craig Longman. For their work on a transformative research project addressing the contemporary crisis of Indigenous child removals, providing family and community support alongside advocacy for broader policy change.

2011 winner Australian of the Year NSW Australian of the Year

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon After Story St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2021 20858217 2021 single work novel

'When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England’s most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and give her mother an inspiring break from the difficult life she has endured.

'Twenty-five years earlier the abduction and murder of Jasmine’s sister shocked and broke their tight-knit community in northern NSW. The legacy of losing their sister and daughter follows Jasmine and Della as they visit the homes of English literary greats such as Thomas Hardy, the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf, with Jasmine hoping to escape the challenges of the life she has carved for herself and Della, reflecting on the rich stories of her own life and people.' (Publication summary)

2023 longlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
2022 winner Voss Literary Prize
2022 shortlisted The Age Book of the Year Award Book of the Year
2022 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
2022 shortlisted Booksellers Choice Award BookPeople Book of the Year Adult Fiction Book of the Year
2022 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writer's Prize
2022 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian General Fiction Book of the Year
2022 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Fiction
2022 longlisted Indie Awards Fiction
form y separately published work icon Maralinga Tjarutja ( dir. Larissa Behrendt ) Australia : Blackfella Films Australian Broadcasting Corporation , 2020 20705713 2020 single work film/TV

'Maralinga Tjarutja land, located in regional South Australia, was used for the British Nuclear Test Program between 1953 and 1963. The Maralinga Tjarutja people fought for the clean-up of contamination, for compensation and for the handback in 2009 of the Maralinga Village and Test Sites. They have since rebuilt traditional communities into vibrant, creative cultural communities that will ensure Maralinga Tjarutja custodianship of their lands into the future.

'New SAFC supported ABC documentary Maralinga Tjarutja tells this story through the eyes of the Maralinga Tjarutja people, who have lived on their lands for over 60 thousand years. The documentary shines a fresh spotlight on what is both a story of deep tragedy and also incredible resilience, celebrating the people, their tenacious spirit and cultural strength through which they fight to retain their country.'

Source: South Australian Film Corporation (Sighted: 4/11/2020).

2021 nominated AIDC Awards Best Documentary / Factual Single
2020 winner Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Direction in Nonfiction Television
2020 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Documentary or Factual Program
form y separately published work icon Total Control Black B*tch ( dir. Rachel Perkins et. al. )agent Australia : Blackfella Films Australian Broadcasting Corporation , 2019-2023 15284926 2019 series - publisher film/TV

'An unlikely national hero, Alex is catapulted into government in a cynical power play. Used, abandoned and underestimated, now she's on a path that will send the political establishment into meltdown.'

Source: Screen Australia.

2022 nominated Logie Awards Most Popular Drama Program
2021 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Television Drama Series
2019 winner Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Television Drama Series
Last amended 27 Jan 2020 14:15:52
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