AustLit

'An interview with the late Australian academic anthropologist AP Elkin about Daisy Bates' anthropological work on the Aboriginal society is presented. According to Elkin, Bates felt that the governments of Western Australia and South Australia did not realized her value. He comments on Bates' belief in cannibalism amongst the Aborigines. He expresses his views on the great affection that Bates had for the Aborigines.' (Publication abstract)

'On 30th April 1996 Aboriginal activist and leader Robert Riley — born Robert Dinah, and universally known as Rob – drove into a plain, besser-block motel on a busy highway in a light-industrial part of Perth’s southern suburbs. He paid cash for Room 24, carried in a few personal belongings and shut the door. Alone in the crammed and sparsely furnished room, he penned his final thoughts. The next day, staff found him dead, hanging from the shower fixture. He was forty-one.

'This is how the book begins (p.1): a description of the last moment of activist and leader Rob Riley. The reader is taken directly and abruptly to the sad and tragic reality of Rob Riley’s suicide. The first question coming to mind when we approach the book is then: Why? Why such a prominent figure like Rob Riley would take his own life. The reader will find some answers as he goes along, but there is more to the story than a ‘single-minded attempt to explain Rob’s suicide’ as the author, Quentin Beresford, points out himself (p.7). Beresford did not want to overshadow Riley’s successes and accomplishments. Nevertheless, Riley’s death is inextricably interwoven into the whole story of his life: the story of an Aboriginal man from Western Australia, a Noongar who grew up in an institution, separated from his family, a man confused about his identity, a man who was the victim of sexual abuse, a man who experienced racism, a husband, a father, a man who became a fighter for Aboriginal rights, a man who engaged in an enduring struggle full of disappointments, failures, and obstacles. But more than the story of a man, it is also the story of a nation, of a people. Through this 374- page biography of Riley, Quentin Beresford gives us a real history lesson. Beresford is really specific in his account and has the sense of historical details. He relies on a wide range of materials but his access to family records and photographs brings some more value to his rich and up-to-date bibliography. It testifies to a solid research work and through the different stages of Rob Riley’s life, a whole page of the history of Australia opens up to us.' (Introduction)

'Sharing Spaces addresses, from a multidisciplinary perspective, the way in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Australia negotiate their social, local and intellectual spaces. The collection of papers is a product of the Sharing the Space Conference held on Kaurna land at Flinders University in South Australia in July 2002. The book reflects the collaborative expertise of indigenous and non-Indigenous people from fields ranging from history to cultural studies, visual arts to law, heritage management, literature, linguistics, education and Aboriginal studies. Such varied participation contributes to the general objective of the book, which attempts to make sense of the complex relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people through time and across issues. This multiplicity of voices grants the book a unique character.'