AustLit

'It has long been my feeling that biographical "yarning", while telling a good story, and providing valuable new information, tends to provide society, white and black, with a safety valve for its guilt and rage about the past. Hard factual delineation of legislative abuse and the results of acts of "correction" are needed. Biography alone doesn't arouse the reader to a comparison of his lot with that of the biographee. But a different or specialised law, with the details of that law create a keener appreciation of the uses made of that legislation to perpetuate racial injustice.' (Introduction)

'This is a very short book, just 68 pages and well illustrated. That was not the reason that I read through it, without pause, in one session. Marnie Kennedy's story absorbed me to the end. The story is told in a straight-forward style that reflects the open honesty of the writer. She comments several times in her story that she successfully managed many jobs on the stations where she worked, even though she wasn't trained for them, because she worked to a system. The system she made for writing this book worked well too.' (Introduction)

'The diary features cartoons, photos, extracts from interviews, graphics, quotations, poem s and notes on the appropriate dates of events in the history of Aborigines in South Australia. It thus makes interesting reading whilst giving opportunity through the year to reflect on past and contemporary Aboriginal life.'  (Introduction)

'Pride Against Prejudice is a book which, I think, most people should read. The book, rather than containing a continuative story, is, as Ida West explains in her Preface, a collection of notes which she has kept "in a draw or on a shelf'. Nevertheless, her experiences at Killiecrankie and at other places in the Furneaux group of islands near Tasmania makes interesting albeit sometimes difficult reading. Some passages in her book brought flashes of nostalgia to me. Who can forget those "poultices" which were made from sugar and Velvet soap? Or the pants which were cut off at the knees and used as swimming trunks.'  (Introduction)

'This small book, according to the "Author's Notes", began as a departmental report for the Heritage Unit of the Department of Environment and Planning in South Australia. It gives an outline of the history of the Adnyamathanha, the Aboriginal people of the North Flinders Ranges and their contact with the Udnyu (white people). It was intended "primarily for the Adnyamathanha community and high school students". It is also meant to cater for the wider public.'  (Introduction)

'Black Australia 2 provides a careful and consistent guide in the evaluation of the flood of material that is now on the educational market in the area of Aboriginal studies. As most teachers have not had the benefit of an Aboriginal studies course in their pre-service training, and in-service courses are limited, this annotated bibliography is an essential aid in the preparation of programmes.'  (Introduction)