AustLit

Anita Heiss canvasses a range of books by Aboriginal writers from across Australia. Each book gives an account of the writer's relationship to a particular place, land and space. Heiss emphasises that, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, 'the largest concentration of the Aboriginal population lives in greater Sydney.' This does not mean that Aboriginal people are unaware of their 'clan or language groups', but it does mean that connections are made through familial, political, social and other cultural associations to particular places. It also means that many urban Aborigines 'choose to write about the desecration of significant spaces in cities...'