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Amy McQuire Amy McQuire i(A107475 works by)
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal ; Aboriginal Darumbal ; South Sea Islander
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Works By

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1 y separately published work icon Black Witness : The Power of Indigenous Media Amy McQuire , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2024 27476578 2024 selected work essay

'A searing indictment of the media's failures in reporting Indigenous affairs - and a powerful corrective that shows how Black journalism can pave the way for equality and justice.

'From one of this country's leading Indigenous journalists comes a collection of fierce and powerful essays proving why the media need to believe Black witnesses and showcasing ways that journalism can be used to hold the powerful to account and make the world a more equitable place.

'Amy McQuire has been writing on Indigenous affairs since she was seventeen years old and, over the past eighteen years, has reported on most of the key events involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including numerous deaths in custody, the Palm Island uprising, the Bowraville murders and the Northern Territory Intervention. She has also drawn attention to the misrepresentations and violence of mainstream media accounts, and also to their omissions and silences in regards to Indigenous matters altogether. In myriad ways the mainstream media has repeatedly failed to report accurately, responsibly or comprehensively on Indigenous affairs.

'Black Witness is the essential collection of First Nations journalism that we need right now - and always have.' (Publication summary)

1 Believing the Black Witness Amy McQuire , 2023 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Pen Magazine , November 2023; (p. 14-17)
'The PEN Lecture delivered by Amy McQuire at the Sydney Writers’ Festival Amy McQuire questions the idea of ‘good journalism’ in the coverage of First Nations news and calls for all of us to believe the Black Witness.' (Introduction)
1 The Act of Disappearing : On the Silences That Shroud the Disappearances of Aboriginal Women and Girls Amy McQuire , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , December vol. 81 no. 4 2022; (p. 20-28)

'We do not know how many Aboriginal women have gone 'missing' in this country. The archives are filled with the 'missing': the Aboriginal women who are no longer here to speak; the Aboriginal women who do not have names; the Aboriginal women who do not have graves or places where their families can remember them. There is a comfort that comes with the word 'missing', because to be 'missing' implies that perhaps they have left on their own accord; that there are no perpetrators or violence enacted against them. As Canadian First Nations lawyer and activist Pam Palmater says, the term 'missing' is a misnomer: 'It seems to imply that these women or girls are just lost or ran away for a few days.' 'Missing' also comes with the assumption that the case is still active. When the police speak of 'missing persons', there is an implication that the police are still searching for them, and that they will never tire in their search until those who are 'missing' are found or come back. Because they are still 'missing', the police do not see themselves as responsible for failing to find them; but instead, see the women themselves as 'responsible' for going missing in the first place. There is a term specific to this place, in that women are accused of going 'walkabout', which serves to naturalise their disappearances as innate to Aboriginal culture, and not a distinctly settler-colonial phenomenon.' (Publication abstract)

1 y separately published work icon Day Break Amy McQuire , Matt Chun (illustrator), Richmond : Bright Light , 2021 20090791 2021 single work picture book children's

'Day Break is the story of a family making their way back to Country on January 26. We see the strength they draw from being together, and from sharing stories as they move through a shifting landscape.

'The story refocuses the narratives around ‘Australia Day’ on Indigenous survival and resistance, and in doing so honours the past while looking to the future. Confronting yet truthful, painful yet full of hope, Day Break is a crucial story that will open up a conversation on truth-telling for the next generation.' (Publication summary)

1 Australia In Three Books Amy McQuire , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 79 no. 3 2020;

— Review of The White Possessive : Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty Aileen Moreton-Robinson , 2015 multi chapter work criticism ; Finding Eliza : Power and Colonial Storytelling Larissa Behrendt , 2016 multi chapter work criticism ; Swallow the Air Tara June Winch , 2003 selected work short story

'In times of crisis I take comfort in the words of black women in whatever form, whether it’s poetry, fiction, memoir, academia, journalism or a Twitter feed. When a white police officer killed an African-American man on camera in May, and ignited the fury of the world, I found strength in the activism of Aboriginal women who continued to break through the stifling silences to shout black lives matter on our own shores too. The writing of black women is powerful because, as Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson writes, although we come from a diversity of backgrounds and circumstances, we also share common experiences:

All Indigenous women share the common experience of living in a society that deprecates us. We share the experience of having different cultural knowledges.

We share in the experience of the continual denial of our sovereignties. We share experiences of the politics of dispossession. We share our respective countries’ histories of colonisation. We share the experience of multiple oppressions. We share in the experiences of living in a hegemonic white patriarchal society.

(Introduction)

1 White Justice, Black Suffering : Extracting False Confessions Amy McQuire , 2019 single work essay autobiography
— Appears in: Griffith Review , August no. 65 2019;

'For the entirety of my childhood – all through the ’90s, the early noughts – I watched my father go through the same routine. Most days, he rose before the sun, putting on the kettle and sipping coffee as he watched the darkness fade into light. His uniform would be ironed and laid out from the night before, each crease perfectly pressed, just as he learned in the army. He would brush his teeth, comb his bushy hair and kiss us – his children – goodbye, before pushing out the door to make the twenty-minute drive to the Etna Creek jail, just outside Rockhampton.'  (Introduction)

1 National Accounts : Black and White Witness Amy McQuire , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 78 no. 2 2019; (p. 1-6)

'If you want to know the difference between the Black and White Witness, all you have to do is mention the war. The White Witness will often describe it in this way. In 2004, Palm Island was continually referred to as the 'most dangerous place on Earth outside of a conflict zone', following the tragic death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee (who died on a watchhouse floor, with a liver cleaved in two and injuries akin to those of a plane crash victim). In 2015 the Cape York community of Aurukun was labelled ground zero, with 'clashes between warring families ... Forcing terrified locals to flee for their safety', and 'children (who) were now caught in a warzone'. The same was said of Wadeye, thousands of kilometres away in north-east Arnhem Land, which in 2006 was labelled 'Not the Third World, just Australia's first war zone' with 'scores of Aborigines' 'fleeing their homes' and 'living in squalid refugee-like camps' due to 'gang violence'. In 2013 the 'Sydney Morning Herald' manipulated crime statistics to claim that the far-west NSW town of Bourke, with its large Aboriginal population, was 'the most dangerous place on Earth'.'  (Publication abstract)

 

1 Stranger Danger Amy McQuire , 2018 single work life story
— Appears in: Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia 2018; (p. 160-163)

'It has become one of those family anecdotes: the time a stranger thought my dad had stolen me. 

'Dad was walking around a shopping centre in Liverpool, where I was born and lived for a few months in infancy, when a perplexed man came up to him and asked, 'Is that your baby?' The implication was that he was worried I had been kidnapped.' (Introduction)

1 Recognising Sovereignty: Bruce Pascoe’s Latest Book A Dark Horse To Lead Battle Over Unfinished Business Amy McQuire , 2016 single work interview
— Appears in: New Matilda 2004-;
'Amy McQuire interviews acclaimed First Nations author Bruce Pascoe, and asks the question why Australia has so readily embraced his book – Dark Emu – and its truths. Does it now mean they must embr ace the issue of sovereignty and treaty?'
1 More Than A Voice: The Legacy Of Tiga Bayles Amy McQuire , 2016 single work obituary (for Tiga Bayles )
— Appears in: New Matilda 2004-;
'Amy McQuire celebrates the life of Tiga Bayles, a man who changed the face of broadcasting with the power of his passion, and the strength of his character. ...'
1 National Accounts Amy McQuire , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 75 no. 1 2016; (p. 1-3)
1 y separately published work icon Curtain The Podcast Amy McQuire (presenter), Martin Hodgson (presenter), 2016- Australia : 28 Oct 2016 18515576 2016 series - publisher podcast

In 2016 highly acclaimed Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman and journalist Amy McQuire teamed up with Yuin man and accomplished human rights Lawyer Martin Hodgson and began the podcast to redress the case of Kevin Henry or ‘Kurtain’, who was wrongfully imprisoned 25 years before for the murder of Aboriginal woman ‘Linda’ (last name withheld) in Rockhampton. The two hosts have since used the podcast as a platform to not only present the evidence about the case of Kevin Henry but also to inform their audience of other injustices around the world.

'This is Curtain – a podcast where we pull back the blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of our justice system and ask – who are the victims?

'A new investigation into the murder trial of Kevin “Curtain” Henry, from Rockhampton Queensland.'

(Source : Curtain The Podcast website)

1 Utopia Critics Miss the Point Amy McQuire , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Tracker , June vol. 14 no. 32 2014; (p. 9)

— Review of Utopia John Pilger , 2013 single work film/TV
'John Pilger's Utopia was shown free to air on SBS earlier this year. The response from the conservative white elite was predictable...'
1 Getting to the Right Side of the Road Amy McQuire , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Tracker , July vol. 3 no. 24 2013; (p. 47)
1 Black Artists Run to the Circus Amy McQuire , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: Tracker , June vol. 2 no. 14 2012; (p. 49)
1 Tall Man on the Big Screen Amy McQuire , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Tracker , December 2011; (p. 45)

— Review of The Tall Man Tony Krawitz , 2011 single work film/TV
1 Scott's Win Puts Him Miles Ahead Amy McQuire , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: Tracker , July no. 4 2011; (p. 57)
1 9 y separately published work icon Tracker Amy McQuire (editor), 2011 Parramatta : New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council , 2011- Z1783391 2011 periodical (26 issues) Tracker was founded in 2011 by the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council to hold government and mainstream media to account and to advance Aboriginal rights. It aims to do this through evidence-based advocacy, journalism and independent news and analysis. -- from the introduction
1 We Will Remember Them... Amy McQuire , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 15 April vol. 9 no. 199 2010; (p. 18-21)
1 Palm Island Through a Long Lens Amy McQuire , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 18 March vol. 197 no. 8 2010; (p. 12)
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