AustLit

'In early 2005 Chloe Hooper arrived at the Aboriginal community of Palm Island in Far North Queensland as a white writer from Melbourne. By 'walking the talk' - being with the Doomadgee family and their community through two coronial inquests into Mulrunji Doomadgee's death in custody - Hooper was given extraordinary access to a community, its history and the cultural nuance little understood by non-Indigenous readers, and not often shared with them. Focusing on Hooper's experience, particularly with her Aboriginal sources in Queensland, this paper will consider the comparative roles of journalism and creative non-fiction in conveying more of the complexities and realities of the Palm Island "riot" that ensued when Mulrunji died. It will suggest that Hooper's way of working helped subvert some dominant ideological news media representations of Australian Indigenous peoples because it privileged strong source relationships set in an extended narrative structure. The usefulness of creative non-fiction as a teaching device within journalism education is also considered through some reflection on a specific pedagogical experience.'

Source: Abstract.