Aboriginal Studies

Click on the links below to go to sections of the catalogue. Use BACK on your browser to return here. Use EDIT and FIND on your browser to search for a particular title.

Aboriginal Women and Violence Bolger, Audrey 1991. A report for the criminology Research Council and the Northern Territory Commissioner of Police, this extensive research paper covers topics from facts and figures to dealing with violent situations. $14.95pb

Aboriginal Words of Australia Reed, A.W 1998. This book offers Aboriginal words from around Australia arranged alphabetically in two sections, English-Aboriginal and Aboriginal-English, and includes a small selection of common phrases and sentences. $12.95pb

Belonging — Australian Places & Aboriginal Ownership Read, Peter 2000. This extraordinary book explores the feelings of non-Aboriginal Australians as they articulate their sense of belonging to the land. Always acting as a counterpoint is the prior occupation and ownership by Aboriginal people and their spiritual attachment. $29.95pb

Black Armband Days Hall, Richard 1998. A timely and thought-provoking collection of essays which take us through some of the less than glorious moments of Australian history - reminding us that those who do not acknowledge the past can never be free of it. $16.95pb

Black Words White Page Aboriginal Literature 1929 – 1988 Shoemaker, Adam 1992. This is the first comprehensive study of Black Australian Literature in English. Combining historical and literary analysis, it attempts to come to terms with the diversity and difference of this new, exciting literature that has been gaining strength since 1929 when David Unaipon became the first published Aboriginal writer. $16.95pb

Born of the Conquerors Wright, Judith 1991. When her work for the Aboriginal Treaty Committee came to an end in 1985, Judith Wright made a promise to do what she could to keep the issue of justice for Aboriginal people alive. Born of the Conquerors is a further attempt to fulfill her promise to Aboriginal people and a message to us all about our need to care for the land. This collection brings together for the first time twenty-one essays, previously published in a wide variety of journals and other publications. They range from the autobiographical through political comment to literary criticism. $24.95pb

Burning Questions: Emerging Environmental Issues for Indigenous Peoples in Northern Australia Marcia Langton, 1998. Examines many of the historical assumptions which shape arguments about the role of Aboriginal people and their traditional environmental knowledge in the management of their cultural and physical landscapes.
"Marcia Langton stands at the crossroads of indigenous and scientific conservation perspectives and lets no one pass unquestioned. Her probing into these issues needs to be read by all conservationists." - Michael Krockenberger, ACF. $17.95pb

Changing Places Aboriginality in Texts and Contexts Kenworthy, Colin and Kenworthy, Susan 1997.An excellent guide for secondary students and teachers. Through clearly presented exercises and group activities, this book assists in the understanding and learning of Australian literature in a post-colonial framework. It uses a variety of texts from different genres, assists students to construct different readings of individual texts, and encourages student awareness of the values implicit in a range of texts. $19.95pb

Citizenship and Indigenous Australians : Changing Conceptions and Possibilities Nicolas Peterson & Will Sanders (eds.), 1998. This book examines the history of indigenous peoples’ citizenship status and asks: is it possible for indigenous Australians to be members of a common society on equal terms with others. Leading commentators from a range of disciplines examine historical conceptions of indigenous civil rights, consider issues arising from recent struggles for equality and raise possibilities for multicultural citizenship that recognize difference. $29.95pb

Dealing With Alcohol Indigenous Usage in Australia, New Zealand and Canada Saggers, Sherry & Gray, Dennis 1998. The devastating impact of alcohol on indigenous populations is well known, but debates about the issue are often emotive and overlook the broad context of the problem. This book aims to provide readers with a coherent explanation of alcohol misuse among indigenous people in Australia, with comparative analyses from New Zealand and Canada. Written with the desire to raise the level of informed debate and lead to constructive action, the book combines an understanding of the structural aspects of alcohol misuse with consideration of individual and community agency. $29.95pb

Dingo Makes Us Human : Life & Land In An Australian Aboriginal Culture Bird, Deborah Rose 2000. Deborah Bird Rose lived for two years with the Yarralin community in the Northern Territory’s remote Victoria river valley. Her engagement with the people’s stories and their action in the world leads her to this analysis of a multi-centred poetics of life and land. This original ethnography speaks to issues that are of immediate and broad concern today : traditional ecological knowledge, kinship, colonising history, environmental care and sacred geography. $34.95pb

For the Record 160 Years of Aboriginal Print Journalism Rose, Michael (ed.) 1996. Michael Rose has brought together examples of Aboriginal journalism freedom a wide range of Aboriginal and mainstream publications. He includes articles from early activists and others who used newspaper and magazine journalism in their fight for justice. $24.95pb

In this book, Bennett coolly & dispassionately describes how the aspirations of Aboriginal Australians are expressed through a political system designed first and foremost for the white majority. Mabo, Wik, Native Title, Stolen Generation - these are just some of the issues discussed here. In a field so often characterized by rhetoric rather than analysis, here is an account which acknowledges the day-to-day reality of political contest. $24.95pb

Indigenous Australian Voices : A Reader Jennifer Sabbioni, Kay Schaffer & Sidionie Smith (eds.), 1998. An impressive compendium of artwork, prose and poetry from thirty-six contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and artists, from all parts of the continent and from both traditional, rural, and urban communities, which captures the diversity of their lifestyles and perspectives in a most compelling way. $44.00pb

Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: In Australia, Canada & New Zealand Paul Havemann (ed.), 1999. Of interest to a broad range of scholars, students and administrators, this comprehensive book aims to provide a contemporary contextual survey and analysis of the legal and political interaction between the British "settler" states of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and the indigenous peoples whom they dispossessed. The contributors pose fundamental questions about the role of imposed legal and political institutions, both in continuing a process of colonial domination and in contributing to the progressive emancipation of indigenous peoples. The book includes sections on :

	indigenous peoples’ perspectives on sovereignty, self-determination, & co-existence
	a historical overview of settlement
	comparative political jurisprudence and contemporary ethno-politics
	the contemporary social impact of colonization
	the administration of indigenous affairs
	constitutionalising indigenous rights.

Jandamarra And The Bunuba Resistance Pedersen, Howard & Woorunmurra, Banjo 2000. The scene is the magnificent Kimberley, late 19^th century and the last stage of Australia’s invasion is about to be played out, in the lands of the Bunuba. Amidst the chaos and turmoil that ensues, extraordinary and sometimes contradictory relationships grow. An indomitable human spirit and the power of country reaches beyond the searing past for the triumph of a reconciled future. $21.95pb

Journeying Forward — Dreaming Aboriginal Peoples’ Independence Monture-Angus, Patricia 2000. Indigenous activist and lecturer, Patricia Monyure-Angus, examines her own intellectual and personal colonisation, as well as the nature of institutional indigenous oppression. Dissatisfied with how slowly Canadian courts and the political system deal with indigenous claims and issues, she questions the very structure of her people’s organisations and political institutions in Canada. Her assessment is highly relevant to Australia today at a time when reconciliation has stalled and native title is under threat. $32.95pb

Land is Life : From Bush to Town - the Story of the Yanyuwa People Richard Baker, 1999. Through long and intensive fieldwork, comes the story of the Yanyuwa, whose traditional country is the islands known as the Sir Edward Pellew Group and the adjacent coastal areas of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Baker tells how these people were visited by Macassan trepangers long before Europeans came to Australia, and consequently have a longer history of contact with non-Aboriginal people than most other Aboriginal groups. This account frequently challenges conventional views of the impact of contact between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and it also demonstrates the importance of the past in shaping the present and reveals what is meant by "land is life". $24.95pb

Macquarie: Aboriginal Words Thieberger, Nick & McGregor, William (eds.) 1999. There is richness and variety in the many languages of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This book gives a snapshot of a diverse selection of these languages. For the first time in one popular volume it is possible to explore the range of Aboriginal linguistic heritage. $29.95pb

Ngalangangpum Jarrakpu Purrum Mother and Child Stewart, Margaret 1999. The women of Warmun Community in the eastern Kimberly have an immeasurable knowledge of law, culture and their land. In these stories about bush tucker, bush medicine and childbirth practices, they impart an age-old wisdom which focuses on welcoming the child into the world. This book emphasizes the importance of traditional ways, including an intimate relationship with the land, and is an invaluable resource for Aboriginal mothers, health practitioners in Aboriginal communities, as well as the layperson. Beautifully illustrated, it includes paintings by such acclaimed artists as Queenie McKenzie and Goodie Barrett. $19.95pb

Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin A World That Is, Was, and Will Be Bell, Diane 1998. Weaving texts written by many voices, Diane Bell takes us into a world that has been invisible to many ‘experts’. She explores the distinctive and dynamic nature of Ngarrindjeri culture; the ways in which we think about social change; the politics of knowledge; and the centrality of religion for a colonized people. This book not only fills a void in the anthropological literature, it demands that we think again about our commitment to justice for Australia’s original inhabitants and the basis of our knowledge of Aboriginal societies. $29.95pb

No Road (Bitumen All the Way) Muecke, Stephen 1999. No Road is a seductive mix of storytelling and ideas, and a personal account of travels in outback Australia, Europe, Africa and suburban Newton. Irony and humour invert the usual expectations of a travel book; nobody seems to be going anywhere. $16.95pb

Obliged to be Difficult Nugget Coombs’ Legacy in Indigenous Affairs Rowse, Tim 2000. Since the 1967 constitutional referendum, Australian governments have moved towards policies of indigenous self-determination. This book presents the central issue of self-determination as seen by Dr H C Coombs: through what political mechanisms will indigenous Australians find their own voice? Obliged to be Difficult is both a biographical slice of an outstanding Australian life and an account of government policies. In attempting a critical celebration of Coombs’ vision and methods, this book invites informed reflection on the issues of land rights, sovereignty and reconciliation in these conservative times. $29.95pb

Our State of Mind : Racial Planning and the Stolen Generations Quentin Beresford & Paul Omaji, 1998. In 1937, the Commonwealth Government and the States resolved to adopt as official policy the removal of Aboriginal children from their families. The policy envisaged the ultimate disappearance of the Aboriginal race. Although this policy was replaced after the Second World War with assimilation, much of the underlying purpose remained. This book examines the racial thinking behind the policy and it challenges Australians to focus on critical issues on the nation’s path towards reconciliation. $19.95pb

Pocket Bushtucker A Field Guide to the Plants of Central Australia and their Traditional Uses Latz, Peter 1999. The traditional resources of the desert peoples are still available and very much in use today. Expert Aboriginal knowledge is the basis for this compact guide to Central Australian plant foods and medicines. It features listings for more than 180 Central Australian plant species, traditional Aboriginal uses of all species and plant names in Central Australian Aboriginal languages. With clear descriptions and illustrations of the commonest and most-used plants, Pocket Bushtucker will be an indispensable companion for travelers, hikers, fieldworkers and researchers. $22.95pb

Reading the Country : Introduction to Nomadology Krim Benterrak, Stephen Muecke & Paddy Roe, 1996 (revised ed.). An extraordinary journey into Roebuck Plains, near Broome in Australia’s far north-west - an exploration of the meaning of place and an attempt to chart relationships between people and those specific places in which they must find a place to live. $24.95pb

Rednecks, Eggheads and Blackfellas Cowlishaw, Gillian 1999. This lively book brings the reader close to the people from a remote cattle station in far north Australia, where black and white peoples’ lives have been intertwined over the span of 80 years. Tracing the humorous, savage and ordinary ways in which race structured intimate and everyday relationships across a great divide, Gillian Cowlishaw makes startling and original arguments about race relations. This thought-provoking work will speak not only to anthropologists and those interested in Aboriginal Australia, but to scholars of race and cultural theory. $35.00pb

Religious Business Essays on Australian Aboriginal Spirituality Charlesworth, Max (ed.) 1998. This remarkable collection brings together lectures on Australian Aboriginal religion given under the auspices of the Charles Strong Memorial Trust. The distinguished team of contributors bring the insights of anthropology, history and theology to a range of topics, revealing the complexity, diversity and dynamism within Aboriginal religion. $29.95pb

Settlement — A History Of Australian Indigenous Housing Read, Peter (ed) 2000. This timely book encompasses the whole history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing — from the multiplicity of shelters used in pre-invasion times to the extraordinary cottages built by Victorian missionaries, through the dreaded children’s dormitory to the compound and its terrors of disease and overcrowding. $33.00pb

The 1967 Referendum Or When Aborigines Didn’t Get the Vote Attwood, Bain & Markus, Andrew 1997. What is the significance of the 1967 referendum? Why did campaigners for the ‘Yes" vote see it as so important? What meanings has it since acquired? What is its value now? These and many more questions are answered in this informative book $25.00pb

The Loss of Australia’s Aboriginal Language Heritage Schmidt, Annette 1990. Aboriginal languages, with their unique and complex grammars, rich vocabularies and encoded knowledge, are a vital part of Australia’s cultural heritage. Over the past two decades there has been growing concern that Aboriginal languages are dying at an accelerating rate. This report is the product of a three-year Research Fellowship in Aboriginal language maintenance at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. It provides a timely overview of the problem of Aboriginal language loss. In her study, Annette Schmidt surveys the nature and extent of language loss, and analyses the factors which contribute tot he process of language demise. She also discusses the factors conducive to Aboriginal language maintenance and makes practical recommendations of the measures which need to be taken to ensure the survival of Aboriginal languages. $12.50pb

The Myth of Privilege : Aboriginal Status, Media Visions, Public Ideas Steve Mickler, 1998. Examines the role of the media - particularly news reporting and talkback radio - in the manufacture of the idea of Aboriginal privilege. The idea of privilege is remarkable for how it is imagined in the face of prodigious counter-evidence that Aborigines are the most disadvantaged people in Australia. $19.95pb

The Wik Debate : Its Impact on Aborigines, Pastoralists and Miners (Frontlines series) Frank Brennan, 1998. Brennan - Jesuit priest, lawyer and long-time Aboriginal rights activist - outlines succinctly the road to political deadlock and the eventual final compromise which would allow amendment to the 1993 Native Title Act. Topical and provocative, short and accessible, part of the "Frontlines" series by UNSW Press which feature new perspectives on a diverse range of current issues. $9.95pb

The World of the First Australians : Aboriginal Traditional Life Past and Present Ronald M & Catherine H Berndt, (5th ed.) 1996. First published in 1966, it has become a classic in the field of Australian Aboriginal studies. As well as being a comprehensive reference book, covering a wide range of the many traditional societies and cultures that have existed on the Australian continent, it draws together the threads of Aboriginal belief and practice in general terms. This book brings together some of the material from over forty years of the authors’ anthropological research and fieldwork among Aborigines in many parts of Australia. $34.95pb

Travelling Aboriginal Australia — Discovery And Reconciliation Kauffman, Paul 2000. Through this guide you can meet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have made it their business to introduce others to their art, their land and their culture. $24.95pb

White Politics and Black Australians Scott Bennett, 1999. Today, whichever political party is in power, Aboriginal issues are very much part of the national agenda. No account of the nature of Australian politics, or discussion of the future of Australian society, can be complete without consideration of the Aboriginal interest. Citizens, whatever their political preferences, are learning that the Aboriginal demand for a full role in society has a profound impact on public life.

Why Weren’t We Told : A Personal Search For The Truth About Our History Reynolds, Henry 1999. A frank account of Reynolds’ personal journey towards the realisation that he, like generations of Australians, grew up with a distorted and idealised version of the past — a vision of peaceful settlement. The reality, as this book reveals, is that the colonists and the original inhabitants fought a bloody war for more than 100 years. $21.95pb

Why Weren’t We Told? A Personal Search For the Truth About Our History. Reynolds, Henry 1999. Accessible and provocative, Reynolds tells the story of his personal discovery of racism in Northern Queensland. From the unforgettable encounter in 1968 in a North Queensland jail with injustice towards Aboriginal children tot the shattering myths about our ‘peaceful’ history, this book will shock, move and intrigue. $24.95pb

Wik, Mining & Aborigines Paul Kauffman, 1998. Australia’s mining industry is an important part of the economy, contributing more than $36 billion to our export earnings and more than 60 per cent of our commodity exports. Australia is the world’s largest producer of nickel and gold, and a major producer of iron. Yet in conducting business with Aboriginal communities mining companies must take account of the pivotal role of the their relationship with the land. Commercial mining need not be hostile to Aboriginal custodianship of the land or to native title. This book surveys the successful collaboration which can occur once mutual understanding is reached. $24.95pb

Women’s Business The Story behind the Hindmarsh Island Affair Kenny, Chris 1996. In 1994 opponents of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge were facing defeat. Then an anthropologist told aborigines who has been enlisted in the campaign: "It would be nice if there was some Women’s Business". Soon after, the cult of Women’s Business was created by a small group of people. All of Australia believed them except for many other Ngarrindjerri women. This is the story of those women and their struggle to tell the truth in the face of hostility from the government, the churches, the media and even some anthropologists. This extraordinary narrative reveals how Australian institutions sought to denigrate and dismiss a group of Aboriginal women whistle blowers. It is an important story for anyone interested in the manipulation of Aboriginal culture for political ends and for anyone who believes that reconciliation "starts with the truth". $19.95pb

Writing on the Backs of the Blacks Voice, Literacy and Community in Kriol Fieldwork Rhydwen, Mari 1996. Many of the key controversies along with a discussion of the global impact of literacy are combined here with fieldwork accounts of the Kriol-speaking communities and the Bilingual program. Rhydwen persuasively argues for an awareness of the dangers of denying a voice to the very people who are the objects of such linguistic research. $22.95pb

Auntie Rita Hugging, Rita & Hugging, Jackie 1996. Rita Hugging was stolen from her country as a child in the 1920’s, and taken to what is now Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve. She remembers her first meeting with a whiteman – a trooper who, with other whitemen, forced her people into cattle trucks before driving them south. The Cherbourg years were ones of imprisonment, under the so-called Aborigines Protection Act. From that time, and also from the years as a single mother in Brisbane in the 1960s, there came a desire to make something better for herself, her family, and Aboriginal people. Rita Huggins told her memories to her daughter Jackie, and some of their conversation is in this book. We witness their intimacy, their similarities and their differences, the "fighting with their tongues". Two voices, two views on a shared life. $19.95pb

Black Gold — The Aboriginal And Islander Sports Hall Of Fame Tatz, Colin & Tatz, Paul. 2000. Evonne Goolagong, Cathy Freeman, Kyle Vander Kuyp, Nova Peris-Kneebone. Just a few of the many Aboriginal & Islander athletes who feature in this richly illustrated book and who, since the mid 1800s, have helped shape Australia’s identity as a great sporting nation. $38.50pb

Don’t Take Your Love to Town Langford, Ruby 1988. Born at Box Ridge Mission, Coraki, in the 1930’s Ruby Langford’s story is one of courage in the face of poverty and tragedy. She writes about the changing ways of life in Aboriginal communities – rural and urban; the disintegration of traditional lifestyles and the sustaining energy that has come from the renewal of Aboriginal culture in recent years. Ruby Langford is a remarkable woman whose sense of humour has endured thorough all the hardships she has experienced. Her autobiography is a book which cannot fail to move you. $19.95pb

Ernie Dingo : King Of The Kids Dingo, Sally 2000. Written for children, this engaging story of Ernie and his family is written by Sally Dingo, Ernie’s wife. Sally spent hours yarning to friends and family and finding out all sorts of things that even Ernie didn’t know. She tells it like it is — the good and the bad. And the person who emerges is Ernie Dingo. $14.20pb

Haunted by the Past Langford Ginibi, Ruby 1999. Ruby Langford Ginibi’s second book is about her son Nooby, who has been in and out of prisons since he was an adolescent. Throughout the book and within a larger historical context, Ginibi tracks the system’s failed attempts to brutalize her son, and its war against him and many other young black men and women. $17.95pb

I’m The One That Know This Country — The Story Of Jessie Lennon & Coober Pedy Lennon, Jessie 2000. Matutjara woman Jessie Lennon takes us on a journey through her life in the desert regions of South Australia — from travelling for traditional ceremonies as a child, to joining other senior people in the ongoing fight for compensation over British nuclear tests at Maralinga and Emu. $26.95pb

Is That You Ruthie? Hegarty, Ruth 1999. Ruth Hegarty is the author and central character of this vivid and authentic account of the lives of the Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission "dormitory girls", who were inmates at Queensland’s most notorious Aboriginal institution. Separated from her mother at the age of four, Ruth came to depend on her own inner resources, and on the love and support of her fellow dormitory girls. A natural leader, this high spirited little girl grew into an outspoken young woman with a well-developed sense of natural justice. Shining through this lively and entertaining story is the resourcefulness of the children, and the strong and lasting bonds of friendship which developed to replace the bonds of family destroyed by a repressive government policy. Never a victim, Ruth triumphs over adversity and inspires with her optimism and spirit. $19.95pb

It Is No Secret — The Story Of A Stolen Child Meehan, Donna 2000. At The age of five, Donna Meehan was taken away from her large and loving family at Coonamble NSW and sent to be the only child of a white family in distant Newcastle. Tiny and vulnerable, she had to try to make sense of her strange new world and the loss of everything she had known and loved. This is a story about hope and grace and the indomitable strength of the human spirit. $21.95pb

Jackson’s Track — A Memoir Of A Dreamtime Place Tonikin, Daryl & Landon, Carolyn 1999. In 1936, Daryl Tonkin and his brother, leave home in search of adventure. They find themselves in West Gippsland, Victoria and set up a timber mill at Jackson’s Track — a dreamtime place, a place that was paradise. A bushman dedicated to his work, Daryl discovers happiness there and falls in love. But Daryl is white and Euphie is black and neither of them is prepared for the conflict their forbidden love ignites. Set in the heart of the Australian bush, this spellbinding memoir recaptures a community and a way of life now vanished from sight. $21.84pb

Maybe Tomorrow Pryor, Boori (Monty) 1998. Boori Pryor’s career path has taken him from the Aboriginal fringe camps of his birth to the runway, the catwalk, the basketball court, the DJ console, and now to performance and storytelling around the country. With writer and photographer Meme McDonald, Boori leads you along the paths he has traveled, pausing to meet his family and friends, while sharing the story of his life, his pain and his hopes, with humour and compassion. $16.95pb

Myall Road Saunders, Keith B. 1998. Keith Saunders’ humour and tenacity shine throughout this book about his life, his family and the many poignant and moving events of his life. He includes many hilarious episodes and breathtaking escapades getting into and out of trouble as a young knockabout. As well as his boxing career there were years and years of very hard work in many dangerous jobs. He has given years of community service as a trainer of football teams, aspiring young boxers and other athletes and through health care and fitness training in gyms and to various organizations. As he retraces parts of his life and places in Sydney, his strength of character and personality are unforgettable. $24.95pb

Saltwater Fella Moriarty, John 2000. " Years later, when I had found my mother, I asked, ‘Why did you let me go ?’ My mother told me in a very soft voice, ‘My son, you were going to school. I took you to school every day….then I went to pick you up and you were gone.’ So begins John Moriarty’s search for his place in the world — a search that has taken him from his ‘Saltwater people’ on the Gulf of Carpentaria to heading an internationally acclaimed Aboriginal design company. $26.00pb

Snake Circle Sykes, Roberta 2000. Part three of the award-winning Snake Dreaming. This volume draws the remarkable trilogy to a close as we accompany Sykes on the final stage of her journey — this time to Harvard University. It is a vivid recounting of Sykes’ experience as the first Australian Black to graduate with a doctorate, and of her growing confidence as she thrives in the new environment of Harvard. $27.45pb

Snake Cradle Roberta Sykes, 1997. Winner of "The Age" Book of the Year for 1997, this is the first volume of Sykes’ planned three volume autobiography, Snake Dreaming. This volume covers the early years of one of Australia’s best known activists for Aboriginal rights from her birth in Townsville in the 1940s through to the birth of her son when she was seventeen, and the trial of the men who raped her. In describing the Queensland of that time and her growing awareness of being different from other "Australian" children (born to a white mother and a father whose identity she did not know) her passion and commitment to the struggles of the Aboriginal people was clearly shaped by the racism her dark skin evoked. $22.95pb

Snake Dancing Roberta Sykes, 1998. The second volume of her autobiography chronicles Roberta’s increasing politicization and involvement in the Black movement to the time of her invitation from Harvard to take up postgraduate study in the United States. Both volumes are essential reading for those who wish to understand the complex nature of the interaction between the races in Australia’s recent history. $22.95pb

The Sausage Tree Medcraft, Rosalie & Gee, Valda 1995. The title, The Sausage Tree, celebrates the favourite childhood game of authors Rosalie Medcraft and Valda Gee. This award-winning memoir tells of the sisters’ childhood spent during the Depression in small-town Tasmania. For the family of nine, thrift was a virtue and home-grown food and hand-made clothing were a necessity. In later years, they learned of their Aboriginal heritage as descendants of Manalargenna, leader of the Trawlwoolway people of Cape Portland in north-east Tasmania. $19.95pb

The Stolen Children — Their Stories Bird, Carmel (ed) 1998. Includes a collection of documents and personal stories of indigenous people that appear in the Report from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Included are reactions to the report by political and community leaders. $21.90pb

The Stolen Children Their Stories Bird, Carmel (ed.) 1998. These stories rise up out of the pain of separation ad \displacement. Showing hope and forgiveness, the writers give an insight into the strength of the human spirit. This volume is acknowledgement of the human tragedy created during a misunderstood and shameful part of Australia’s history. It includes a collection of documents and personal stories of Indigenous people that appear in the Report from the Human Rights and Equal opportunity Commission. $19.95pb

Through Silent Country Wadley Dowley, Carolyn 2000. A journey of discovery and testimony which began when Carolyn Wadley Dowley stumbled upon a small reference to a remarkable escape story. Although at first it seemed faint, she set out to follow the trace of the narrative back to its origins, in the remote area around Laverton, north-east of Kalgoorlie — Wongutha Country. There, the people she met not only confirmed details of the story, but revealed how it was a part of the many stories which are their history. A remarkable story of injustice, survival and triumph. $27.45pb

Untold Stories Memories and Lives of Victorian Kooris Critchett, Jan 1998. In this volume, Jan Critchett presents a series of moving Aboriginal biographies from the Western district of Victoria, drawing on both the oral tradition of local Koori Elders and on official records. Untold Stories opens our eyes to a number of remarkable individuals who managed to make a life for themselves in the interstices of the society that had dispossessed them. Their long-running battle to maintain their culture and their connection to country, in the face of a regime that seemed bent on denying their humanity, is both humbling and inspiring. $29.95pb

Woman From No Where — Hazel McKellar as told to Kerry McCallum 2000. Sent out to work at 11, married at 16, mother at 17 and on the track as a drover’s wife, Hazel McKellar has a life of drama. The drovers wife turns drover herself, in charge of 5,000 head. Hazel graduates to consultant and heads off to do battle in committees after the Cunnamulla ‘riot’ arouses her fighting spirit to new causes. $17.95pb

Yarrti Six Women’s Stories from the Great Sandy Desert Peter, Sonja & Lofts, Pamela (eds.) Yarrti is the stories of six senior Ngarti and Kakatja women who are living in the Yaka Yaka and Balgo communities on the edge of the great Sandy Desert. The women want to share their life stories with a wider Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal audience by conveying their experiences, perceptions, beliefs, values and connections to the land. $34.95pb

Balgo New Directions Cowan, James 1999. The Aboriginal artists of he Balgo Hills are considered by many to be the most innovative and daring painters working in Central Australia at present. This new book explores the best artists currently or recently working at Balgo Hills. $65.00hb

Contemporary Aboriginal Art A Guide to the Rebirth of an Ancient Culture McCulloch, Susan. 1999 Through illustration and text, art writer Susan McCulloch explores the different art styles of the twenty land based communities in Arnhem Land, the Central Desert and the Kimberly as well as developments among urban-based artists. The book includes an extensive history of the development of this art, biographies of major artists and practical information on the art’s production. $49.95hb

Don’t Ask For Stories The Women of Ernabella and Their Art Eickelkamp, Ute 1999. This collection of histories in both written and illustrative form, from the women and men of Ernabella, in northern South Australia, tells the story of the interaction between white and black women that led to the establishment and development of a significant school of Australian art. The stories speak of great losses and regrets, but also remarkable achievements, and of the skill and strength of the individuals whose voiced we hear. At Ernabella Arts, all the artistic imput is produced by women and this, one of the oldest centers of contemporary Aboriginal art in the country, is best known for its distinctive design and its use of new and innovative media. These artists, when asked to explain their designs by those who are unaware of their non-representational nature, say "don’t ask for stories". We are lucky, however, that they have chosen to record their stories in other ways, and in the process have given their readers a striking insight into their lives and work. $34.95pb

Emily Kngwarreye Paintings Isaccs, Jennifer; Smith, terry; Ryan, Judith; Holt, Donald; Holt, Janet 1997. During her brief but dazzling career, Emily Kngwarreye had numerous solo and group exhibitions. She is represented in all major state gallery collections in Australia and in significant collections of contemporary international art in the USA, Europe and the U.K. Her paintings represented Australia at the 1997 Venice Biennale. This book looks at Emily Kngwarreye’s paintings from ver different viewpoints, from personal accounts of Emily’s work and life to the paintings’ meaning as a part of Anmatyerre women’s culture, as well as the artist’s development and patronage. This exquisite volume is fully illustrated. $80.00hb

The Eye of the Storm Eight Contemporary Indigenous Australian Artists 1997. This book celebrates another landmark for Australia’s Indigenous artists, focusing on current expressions of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. It features full colour plates of the artists’ works as well as biographical background information. $19.95pb

Fire and Shadow Spirituality in Contemporary Australian Art Drury, Nevill and Voigt, Anna 1999. This beautifully illustrated volume is neither a history nor an overview but focuses on a selection of established and mid-career Australian artist – among them painters, sculptors, installation artists and practitioners of mixed media – who are incorporating spiritual elements and themes in their work. The result is fascinating because the individual perspectives are so diverse, encompassing Roman Catholic and Afro-Christianity, Aboriginal Dreamings, apocalyptic surrealism, archetypal "Goddess" imagery, alchemical symbolism and Buddhist mysticism. $39.95pb

Possessions Indigenous Art/ Colonial Culture Thomas, Nicholas 1987. Tribal art has been one of the great inspirations for twentieth-century Western artists. The politics of this matter however, have long been a matter of explosive contention: is it a cross-cultural discovery to be celebrated, or just one more example of Western colonial appropriation? Powerful indigenous art traditions have also been used to assert the presence of native peoples and their prior claim to sovereignty. Moreover, cultural exchange seems to be a two-way process, and an unpredictable one. Much contemporary indigenous art draws on modern Western art, while affirming ancestral values and rejecting the European appropriation of tribal culture. $39.95pb

Prehistoric Rock Art Marinella, Terzi 1992. Humans first began to express themselves by making works of art around 35,000 BC Their motives seem to have been religious, perhaps related to magic. But it was not until about 15,000B.C. that the most splendid art appeared on the rock faces of mountains, cliffs and caves. Most of these paintings represent animals, but there are also human figures and symbols of unknown meaning. Of all the archeological sites where rock paintings have been preserved, UNESCO has chosen several for its World heritage list. Featured here are caves of the Vezere Valley (France), Kakadu National Park (Australia), the caves of Altamira (Spain) and many more. $12.95pb

Spirit Country Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art Isaacs, Jennifer 1999. This book explores the vibrant contemporary Aboriginal Art of northern and central Australia, with its diverse regional traditions. Jennifer Isaacs has been a close observer of the artistic renaissance across Aboriginal Australia since it began during the early 1970s. In Spirit Country she outlines the forces that propelled the movement’s initial upsurge and seeks the sources of its continuing vitality. She traces the widening compass of the movement, and particularly the involvement of women artists, whose works have taken contemporary Aboriginal art in new directions. $49.95pb

[Back to Top]

Aboriginal Legends Animal Tales Reed, A.W 1999. So much of Traditional Aboriginal storytelling teaches us about the animal world and the spiritual bond shared between the Aboriginal people and nature. How did snakes become poisonous? Why are there black sans only in Australia? This book is a unique collection of stories for those who are interested in learning more about this fascinating culture. $12.95pb

Aboriginal Myths, Legends & Fables Reed, A.W. 1999. This volume presents a wealth of poetic and imaginative tales from Aboriginal cultural heritage. While retelling the stories simply, A. W. Reed captures the mystical bonds that exist between Aboriginal People, their environment and the spirit life of the Dreamtime. Each story provides the reader with an insight into the fascinating beliefs of one of the oldest living cultures on earth. $19.95pb

Black Woman, Black Life Reed-Gilbert, Kerry 1996. A collection of Kerry Reed-Gilbert’s poignant and honest poems. "Her work reflects the struggles and victories of the human condition from the perspective of a black woman growing up in Australia. She challenges each one of us to reflect on our own humanity and our commitment to our own highest truth". Lillian Nikolic $12.95pb

Close to the Bone Manning, Ned. 1994. This play deals with the forced adoptions of Aboriginal children taken from their families to live as white children. In the 1960s before the referendum on full citizenship rights for Aboriginal people in 1967, a little girl is taken from her mother. In the 1990s as a young woman, she discovers by chance that she is adopted and Aboriginal. This play relates one aspect of recent Aboriginal history in a moving and sympathetic way, using humour to highlight the story. $13.95pb

The Great Forgetting Page, Geoff & Pooaraar 1996. This is the forgotten story of Australia in the last 200 years, the story of the interaction of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. It is about brutality, arrogance, honest misunderstandings, occasional decencies and continuing unresolved problems. In this creative contribution towards national reconciliation, poet Geoff Page and artist Pooaraar combine their significant talents in an effort to end ‘the great forgetting’. $29.95pb

Inside Black Australia An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry Gilbert, Kevin (ed.) 1988. From the campfires and ‘reserves’ of the desert, from riverbanks and prison cells, from universities and urban ghettoes come the inside voices of Australia. These are tough poems that resist the silence of genocide and the destruction of culture. The collection is an angry call for justice and the restoration of the land and the Dreaming. The Aboriginal lives glimpsed give white Australians a hint of the deep possibilities of belonging in this land. $19.95pb

Munaldjali, Mutuerjaraera New and Selected Poems Fogarty, Lionel G 1995. Lionel Fogarty has been acclaimed as the most authentic voice to emerge from a radical new generation of Aboriginal writers. In this collection of poems selected from his five published volumes together with a substantial number of new poems, Fogarty gives us a clear insight into the complexities and passions of black existence. He puts the reader in touch with the spirituality of Murri culture and invites us to experience the oppression and suffering endured by his people. $19.95pb

Oracle of the Dreamtime Aboriginal Dreamings Offer Guidance for Today Hakanson, Donni. This is a beautiful book and card set based on Aboriginal spiritual beliefs – the Dreaming stories. There is much that this old wisdom can still teach us about how we live our lives today, and here the Dreamings are presented as a tool for self-exploration and inspiration, in a form accessible to all. $39.95pack

Pacific Highway Boo-Blooz Country Poems Mudrooroo 1996. The glittering stretch of snake-like highway beckons escape. TO the rhythmic blues backbeat, it leads from northern New South Wales to inner-city Brisbane, continually circling back. Woven through the road narratives are poems whose humour, cant and unshakeable politics express the poet’s experience as a Nyoongah living in a white world. Collectively, in an achievement rare and powerful, these poems exhibit the interconnectedness of cultural and personal rejuvenation. $16.95pb

The Rainbow Serpent Hulley, Charles E. 1999. For thousands of year the myths of the Rainbow Serpent have been handed down from generation to generation – making it one of the longest continuously held spiritual traditions in the world. These Dreamtime stories form one of the most potent legends of Aboriginal culture. In this book, Charles Hulley brings together many different stories of the Rainbow Serpent into an accessible narrative, drawing on the rock art and oral traditions of the Aboriginal people from across Australia, as well as recent literature on the legend. $14.95pb

Reading the Country Benterrak, Krim; Muecke, Stephen ; Roe, Paddy 1996. This volume is a journey into Roebuck Plains, near Broome in Australia’s far north west. It explores the meaning of place, attempts to change the relationships between people and examines those specific places in which they must find a place to live. It is a journey through landscape into language and ideas, and personal and cultural location. $24.95pb

Story About Feeling Neidjie, Bill 1989. This collection links personal discovery to a sense of nature and restores us to an earlier wisdom that is at once powerful and ever-fresh. A book for the cities and the cities of the mind, a universal cry and celebration $14.95pb

The Wrightson List Wrightson, Particia and Peter. 1998. Patricia Wrightson has called this a dictionary of mythology: it is a sourcebook, a guide and inspiration for those who wish to learn more about Aboriginal stories. Readers who have grown up with Wrightson’s fiction and who first learned about narguns, nyols and potkuroks from her will treasure this List for the world it brings aback to them and new readers will explore it eagerly for the new worlds it opens up. $16.95pb

[Back to Top]

Benang Scott, Kim 1999.With quiet clarity and broad resonance, Benang plunges it readers into the emotional and historical truths of ‘half-caste’ Australia. $19.95pb

Black Angels – Red Blood McCarthy, Steven 1998. On the surface, there’s not much to distinguish Tim’s life from any other on the fringe. He has his family in the bush, and the lives of his city friends are transacted in the face of poverty and police harassment. It is only in Tim’s relationship with the Old Man that we glimpse another and little known world where the rules are different but so too is retribution. $18.95pb

Bridge of Triangles Muk Muk Burke, John 1994. Chris Leston is tormented by his growing need to cross over into the landscape of his Aboriginal ancestors. After the night of the flood, his Wiradjuri mother resolves to take her four children away from their riverbank home and her unhappy life with Chris’s white father. In the struggle to keep the family together in Sydney’s grim commission housing, schoolboy Chris is tender witness to poverty and despair. In time he comes to understand that they are exiles in their own land. He senses that it is his generation which must cross the bridge back to that landscape which defines his people’s existence. $14.95pb

Bulmurn A Swan River Nyoongar Wilkes, Richard 1995. Set in the early 1800s, Bulmurn is a rare and dramatic combination of historical fiction with Aboriginal tribal beliefs and legendary figures. Bulmurn, medicine man to the Swan River Nyoongars, saw the skin of his people changing, saw sickness strike the children of his clan, saw traditional learning falter. Refusing to continue healing those of mixed blood, he was judged by the Trial of Spears, and cast out. Alone, Bulmurn’s power increased, but when used in lethal retribution against the wadjbulla, that power precipitated the hunt for his life. $16.95pb

The Day of the Dog Weller, Archie 1992. This story, now a major motion picture, starkly evokes the world of Aborigines in suburban Australia, bringing their lives into focus I a novel which is as fast-paced as it is involving. Scenes of sudden, devastating violence give way to tranquil, even lyrical interludes as Doug, his family and those close to him find temporary relief in friendship, love, drink or escape to the bush. . . always, however to be drawn back to the ever narrowing circle of violence, victimization and inevitable destruction. $14.95pb

Doctor Wooreddy’s Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World Mudrooroo 1996. In this unforgettable novel, considered by many to be his masterpiece, the author evokes with fullest irony the bewilderment and frailty of the last native Tasmanians, as they come face to face with the clumsy but inexorable power of their white destroyers. $16.95pb

Doing Wildcat Narogin, Mudrooroo 1988. Mudrooroo has created a memorable character in Wildcat, the prison graduate, drifting through life, making the most of the opportunities that come his way, relishing the pickings of the late 1980s. He tries to understand his own past, he forgets, re-invents and even changes it for reasons of his own. And we suffer it all again: separation from mother, boys’ home, the fear within and the brash exterior, the shock of killing. This is a complex novel that says much in little space. $24.95hb

Land of the Golden Clouds Welder, Archie 1998. Set in Australia 3000 years into the future, an unlikely band of travelers from different tribes and civilizations traverse a vast, irradiated continent. They journey together in a final attempt to defeat a common enemy, but come to learn that victory will only be theirs once they conquer their own prejudices. $19.95tp

Long Live Sandawara Mudrooroo 1987. On the periphery of the fast-moving modern city of Perth, aboriginal teenagers eke out a living full of violence, sex, lawlessness and poverty. With their quixotic leader invoking the spirit of the mythic hero Sandawara, they speak of revolution, revenge, justice and black power. Mudrooroo’s novel is a startling vivid portrayal of the new and frightening world of rootless youth, who lack identity and purpose and fight as easily as they love because neither act has meaning. It’s also a raw, uncompromisingly apocalyptic vision of the future of a society where victims have no recourse, and cries for justice are rendered sadly farcical. $16.95pb

Maggie Jackson’s Kid Saunders, GK 1998. Maggie Jackson’s son was born fourteen years ago on a convict ship. His mother, unable to stand the harshness and brutality of life in Sydney in the 1820sm died when the boy was six. Hating the white establishment, he ran away and lived happily with a group of Aboriginal people for the next eight years. When he returned to Sydney he found himself an outcast until a single act of kindness by the son of new-arrived settlers starts an exciting chain of events. $14.95pb