AustLit

'Unanticipated questions of Balanda and Aboriginal relations await Mary Ellen Jordan when she takes a position at the arts centre in Maningrida, a remote community in Arnhem Land. Balanda, the main title of the book, is the local term used for non-Aboriginal people. Jordan’s book is clearly and carefully written, integrating her day-to-day life with reflections that presented through this experience. Balanda is refreshingly honest on the subject of the imbalance of power between black and white in an isolated community. This is a significant subject about which too little is known and is rarely explored. As Jordan found, however, any debate on this contentious area of thought is strongly resisted or it is simply ignored or denied.'  (Introduction)

'...The title refers to the file of the child Rene Baker, held in the Western Australian Department of Native Affairs. This removed child later became Rene Powell, one of the authors of this book. We reviewers were not able to emulate the way the narrative is divided between Rene as the tragic heroine and Bernadette as the Greek chorus, but will attempt a dialogue between one reviewer who was herself removed (Jilpia) and one who grew up once believing such removal was done with ‘good intentions’ (John). It need hardly be said that such intentions pave the road to Hell.'  (Introduction)