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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia's frontier wars
'David Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result – a soul-searching Australian history.
'This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the colonial world – of land seized, fortunes made and lost, and the violence let loose as squatters and their allies fought for possession of the country – a war still unresolved in today's Australia.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
The Bonds That Remain
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 March 2024; (p. 21) -
Silence and the Social Order
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Arena Quarterly , Autumn no. 17 2024; (p. 90-92)
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism -
The 17 Best Books of 2023
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22 January 2024;
— Review of The Sitter 2023 single work novel ; Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; The Conversion 2023 single work novel ; The Vitals 2023 single work prose ; Right Story, Wrong Story : Adventures in Indigenous Thinking 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; Praiseworthy 2023 single work novel ; Edenglassie 2023 single work novel ; Women and Children 2023 single work novel ; The Art of Breaking Ice 2023 single work novel ; I'd Rather Not 2023 single work autobiography ; On Peter Carey : Writers on Writers 2023 single work biography ; New Australian Fiction 2023 2023 anthology short story ; Critic Swallows Book : Ten Years of the Sydney Review of Books 2023 anthology review essay -
Demythologising the Frontier
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , December 2023;
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism'David Marr’s intergenerational account of colonisation challenges us to think differently about truth-telling' (Introduction)
-
Who Do We Think We Are?
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 14-15 October 2023; (p. 16)
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism
-
‘Ballsy’, ‘very Funny’, ‘read in One Sitting’ : The Best Australian Books Out in October
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 October 2023;
— Review of Edenglassie 2023 single work novel ; Stone Yard Devotional 2023 single work novel ; Late : A Novel 2023 single work novel ; Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; Gunflower 2023 selected work short story ; The Man Who Wasn't There 2023 single work biography ; Home to Biloela 2023 single work autobiography -
‘I Can’t Argue Away the Shame’ : Frontier Violence and Family History Converge in David Marr’s Harrowing and Important New Book
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 10 October 2023;
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism'Cultural capital is a rare and precious commodity. It is earned by doing – with wit, rigour and imagination. Being born to privilege may help in its accumulation, but that is not sufficient. These days, especially, privilege can be an impediment.'
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Follow the Sheep : An Unflinching Contribution to Frontier History
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 458 2023; (p. 14, 16)
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism 'Forty-three years ago, David Marr – journalist, broadcaster, biographer, political commentator, and public intellectual – published his first book, a sharp, memorable biography of Garfield Barwick, former Liberal attorney-general and chief justice of the High Court. After the appearance of Patrick White: A life in 1991, long considered one of the best biographies ever written in Australia, he might well have followed the more predictable path of the serial biographer. But Marr’s trajectory has proved to be anything but predictable.' (Introduction) -
David Marr Killing for Country : A Family Story
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 28 October - 3 November 2023;
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism -
David Marr : Killing for Country
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , November 2023;
— Review of Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism 'David Marr’s account of his ancestors’ involvement with the Native Police and the murder of Aboriginal people is distressing and important.' -
The Hatred and Greed of the Frontier Wars Still Drive Race Politics Today. How Little Things Change
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 1 October 2023; -
y
Killing for Country
Georgina Arnott
(interviewer),
Southbank
:
Australian Book Review, Inc.
,
2023
27089662
2023
single work
podcast
interview
'This week, on the ABR podcast, we feature a special conversation between author and journalist David Marr, historian Mark McKenna and ABR’s Georgina Arnott, recorded in the middle of September 2023, one month out from the Voice referendum. The subject was David Marr’s new book, Killing for Country: A family story, which takes the reader to early nineteenth-century New South Wales and follows the bloodshed of invasion as it tracks north.' (Publication abstract)
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Killing for Country : A Gripping Reckoning with the Bloody History of Australia's Frontier Wars
2023
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , October 2023; (p. 47) -
y
David Marr Vs Australia’s Old Lie
Michael Williams
(interviewer),
2023
27121019
2023
single work
podcast
interview
'For many Australians, facing the reality of this country is a task that has proved enduringly difficult, both at a public and a political level. For investigative journalist David Marr, finding the right way to tell the stories that allow us to see the truth of our history is a personal quest and one that has led to his latest book. This week, Michael talks with David about shame – both personal and national – and why his family agreed that he had to write Killing for Country.'
-
The Bonds That Remain
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 March 2024; (p. 21)
Awards
- 2024 shortlisted Booksellers Choice Award BookPeople Book of the Year — Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year
- 2024 winner Indie Awards — Book of the Year
- 2024 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
- 2024 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Award for Non-Fiction
- 2024 shortlisted Indie Awards — Nonfiction