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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'At the age of five, Donna was taken away from her natural family and sent to a foster family in Newcastle. Donna reflects back on her childhood memories of living in the bush with her brothers and her removal to the city, becoming an only child in a white family.Donna recalls her struggle with her identity - remembering traditions and customs of her old life in the outback and the adjustments she has had to make in strange city. Donna (aged 40) retells her life story with stark simplicity and honesty . She openly discusses the pain and isolation she has felt at not belonging or feeling at home with the society she has been brought up in. Her desperation took her close to suicide.This is a powerfully sad yet also uplifting story - sad because of Donna's long struggle to re-establish her family and culture and coming to terms with her own views about Aboriginal people; and uplifiting because of Donna's deep faith, her own strong family ties with her foster mother and her husband and sons.Donna's story is retold with passion but with an absence of bitterness as she tells of the strangeness, and heartbreak of her experiences, and of the kindness of her adoptive family.' (Random House)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Black Chicks Talking : Indigenous Women's Writing in JSNWL's Collection
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Jessie Street National Women's Library Newsletter , May vol. 22 no. 2 2011; (p. 6-7) 'The library has a small but growing collection of Aboriginal material in the form of books, posters, audio-visual items and the few journals. This article overviews these holdings and makes a plea for more donations in this area.' (p. 6)
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Stolen Childhoods : Rosalie Fraser's Shadow Child and Donna Mehan's It Is No Secret
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Contesting Childhood : Autobiography, Trauma, and Memory 2010; (p. 33-42) 'Fraser's Shadow Child, a Stolen Generations autobiography, relates her experiences living with a foster family in the 1960s and 1970s after being removed from her parents' care. Though the narrator recounts the abuse she suffered at the hands of her foster mother, Mrs Kelly, Shadow Child links the direct forms of (physical, sexual, and emotional) abuse that she suffered to the cultural abuse and neglect levelled at her and her siblings by the welfare institutions that were responsible for them. Fraser endures horrific physical and sexual abuse from her foster mother. The narrator uses term 'the Welfare' to describe the various systems that, while claiming to have her interests and protection in mind, offered no protection and seemingly had no interest in her.' (Author's introduction)
-
y
Contesting Childhood : Autobiography, Trauma, and Memory
New Brunswick
:
Rutgers University Press
,
2010
Z1836606
2010
single work
criticism
'The late 1990s and early 2000s witnessed a surge in the publication and popularity of autobiographical writings about childhood. Linking literary and cultural studies, Contesting Childhood draws on a varied selection of works from a diverse range of authors - from first-time to experienced writers. Kate Douglas explores Australian accounts of the Stolen Generation, contemporary American and British narratives of abuse, the bestselling memoirs of Andrea Ashworth, Augusten Burroughs, Robert Drewe, Mary Karr, Frank McCourt, Dave Pelzer, and Lorna Sage, among many others." "Drawing on trauma and memory studies and theories of authorship and readership, Contesting Childhood offers commentary on the triumphs, trials, and tribulations that have shaped this genre. Douglas examines the content of the narratives and the limits of their representations, as well as some of the ways in which autobiographies of youth have become politically important and influential. This study enables readers to discover how stories configure childhood within cultural memory and the public sphere.' (Publisher's blurb)
-
It is No Secret
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Heart , November 2010; (p. 18-19)
— Review of It is No Secret 2000 single work autobiography -
The Universal Autobiographer : The Politics of Normative Readings
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , no. 72 2002; (p. 173-179, notes 283-285)
-
It is No Secret
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Heart , November 2010; (p. 18-19)
— Review of It is No Secret 2000 single work autobiography -
Black Chicks Talking : Indigenous Women's Writing in JSNWL's Collection
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Jessie Street National Women's Library Newsletter , May vol. 22 no. 2 2011; (p. 6-7) 'The library has a small but growing collection of Aboriginal material in the form of books, posters, audio-visual items and the few journals. This article overviews these holdings and makes a plea for more donations in this area.' (p. 6)
-
y
Contesting Childhood : Autobiography, Trauma, and Memory
New Brunswick
:
Rutgers University Press
,
2010
Z1836606
2010
single work
criticism
'The late 1990s and early 2000s witnessed a surge in the publication and popularity of autobiographical writings about childhood. Linking literary and cultural studies, Contesting Childhood draws on a varied selection of works from a diverse range of authors - from first-time to experienced writers. Kate Douglas explores Australian accounts of the Stolen Generation, contemporary American and British narratives of abuse, the bestselling memoirs of Andrea Ashworth, Augusten Burroughs, Robert Drewe, Mary Karr, Frank McCourt, Dave Pelzer, and Lorna Sage, among many others." "Drawing on trauma and memory studies and theories of authorship and readership, Contesting Childhood offers commentary on the triumphs, trials, and tribulations that have shaped this genre. Douglas examines the content of the narratives and the limits of their representations, as well as some of the ways in which autobiographies of youth have become politically important and influential. This study enables readers to discover how stories configure childhood within cultural memory and the public sphere.' (Publisher's blurb)
-
Stolen Childhoods : Rosalie Fraser's Shadow Child and Donna Mehan's It Is No Secret
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Contesting Childhood : Autobiography, Trauma, and Memory 2010; (p. 33-42) 'Fraser's Shadow Child, a Stolen Generations autobiography, relates her experiences living with a foster family in the 1960s and 1970s after being removed from her parents' care. Though the narrator recounts the abuse she suffered at the hands of her foster mother, Mrs Kelly, Shadow Child links the direct forms of (physical, sexual, and emotional) abuse that she suffered to the cultural abuse and neglect levelled at her and her siblings by the welfare institutions that were responsible for them. Fraser endures horrific physical and sexual abuse from her foster mother. The narrator uses term 'the Welfare' to describe the various systems that, while claiming to have her interests and protection in mind, offered no protection and seemingly had no interest in her.' (Author's introduction)
-
Donna Catalogues a Stolen Childhood
2000
single work
biography
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 4 October no. 236 2000; (p. 26) -
The Universal Autobiographer : The Politics of Normative Readings
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , no. 72 2002; (p. 173-179, notes 283-285)
Last amended 24 May 2014 16:19:30
Subjects:
- Coonamble, Coonamble area, Coonabarabran - Gilgandra - Coonamble area, Central West NSW, New South Wales,
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- Newcastle, Newcastle - Hunter Valley area, New South Wales,
-
cReunion,cIndian Ocean - Africa, Africa,
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