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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'An authoritative survey of Australian Aboriginal writing over two centuries, across a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. Including some of the most distinctive writing produced in Australia, it offers rich insights into Aboriginal culture and experience...
'The anthology includes journalism, petitions and political letters from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as major works that reflect the blossoming of Aboriginal poetry, prose and drama from the mid-twentieth century onwards. Literature has been used as a powerful political tool by Aboriginal people in a political system which renders them largely voiceless. These works chronicle the ongoing suffering of dispossession, but also the resilience of Aboriginal people across the country, and the hope and joy in their lives.' (Publisher's blurb)
Contents
- The First-Borni"Where are my first-born, said the brown land, sighing", single work poetry (p. 57-58)
- The Black Trackeri"He served mankind for many a year", single work poetry (p. 58)
- Warrui"Fast asleep on the wooden bench,", single work poetry (p. 58-59)
- Integrationi"Let these two worlds combine,", single work poetry (p. 59-60)
-
Walker (to Kath)i"Fight on, Sister, fight on,",
single work
poetry
(p. 60)
Note: Kath Walker, Aboriginal poet and activist also known as Oodgeroo Noonuccal
- From No Sugar (Act 2, Scene 6), extract drama (p. 61-64)
- From : Here Comes the Nigger, single work extract drama (p. 67-72)
- From Karobran (Chapter 4), extract novel (p. 72-76)
- People are Legendsi"Kill the legend butcher it with your acute cynicisms", single work poetry (p. 77)
- From The Cherry Pickers (Act 3, Scene 2)i"At the old Cherry Tree - King Eagle.", extract drama (p. 77-82)
- Me and Jackomari Talkin' About Land Rightsi"He said don't be like the rest of 'em but a big loose mouth or a pen", single work poetry (p. 83)
- Redferni"In the savage streets of Redfern where the 'cockatoo' and turk peer from the doors", single work poetry (p. 83-84)
- Treei"I am the tree the lean hard hungry land the crow and eagle", single work poetry (p. 84-85)
- Song of Dreamtimei"With our didgeridoos", single work poetry (p. 86-87)
- Shields Strong, Nulla Nullas Alivei"Morning dawning stems that core", single work poetry (p. 87-88)
- Decorative Rasp, Weaved Rootsi"If I am not a race then what am I", single work poetry (p. 88-91)
- Ecologyi"I am a frill necked lizard roaming, providing", single work poetry (p. 91)
- For I Come - Death In Custodyi"I in a jail. Even a murri wouldn't know if him free.", single work poetry (p. 92)
- Kath Walkeri"We are coming, even going I was born in 1957 the year after I became a realist", single work poetry (p. 93)
- 'Dulpai - Ila Ngari Kim Mo-Man'i"Moppy, Aborigine, Gumbal Gumbal was he Aborigines King Billy was him;", single work poetry (p. 93-99)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also e-book.
Works about this Work
-
Australia in Three Books
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 75 no. 2 2016; (p. 14-17) -
New Cultural Landscapes : Australian Narratives in Literature and Film
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Ilha Do Desterro : A Journal of English Language , vol. 69 no. 2 2016; 'Australia. Terra Australis Incognita. Even before its official finding by Captain James Cook in 1770, the “land down under” already circulated in the European imagination. The giant mass of land necessary to balance a flat Earth (as antipodal to Europe) could only be home to a great many monstrous fauna and flora, as it was also the cultural counterpart to Europe. However, giant one-eyed monsters and sea serpents were not found by Captain Cook upon his arrival on Botany Bay, now part of Sydney. By declaring the land terra nullius, Cook ignored the many Aboriginal communities that had lived in Australia for over 75,000 years and such act has given way to one of the core elements in the development of Australian culture and history: the relationship between whites and Aborigines in the development of the nation.' (Introduction) -
Indigenous Stories Told Collectively
BlackWords : Indigenous Stories Told Collectively
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The BlackWords Essays 2015; (p. 5) The BlackWords Essays 2019;In this essay Heiss discusses and explains the important role of anthologies in the creation of communities of writers and in acknowledging, consolidating and launching writing careers.
-
Indigenous Australia : Historical and Contemporary Scholarship
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies , Fall vol. 17 no. 2 2011; (p. 102-111)
— Review of Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract ; Writing Never Arrives Naked : Early Aboriginal Cultures of Writing in Australia 2006 single work criticism -
‘Reading and Writing to Learn’ : The Problem of Poetry
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Teaching Australian Literature : From Classroom Conversations to National Imaginings 2011; (p. 293-306) 'Bonnie Cassidy argues that when teachers are 'faced with the problem of how to read and discuss poetry in Australia...thought and time might be better spent on encouraging confidence in poetry as a relevant medium and substance of our times. Specifically, ...to look at young Australian to enact this regeneration - and schools as the site in which that process will take place, grounding the work of universities.' Cassidy also states in this chapter she will interpret the role that poetry might play in The Australian Curriculum: English, including some of the challenges that the Curriculum poses for a revision of approaches to poetry in schools.' (294)
-
Untitled
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , March vol. 87 no. 7 2008; (p. 39)
— Review of Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract -
The Poignant Arc
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 301 2008; (p. 17-18)
— Review of Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract -
A Word in the Whitefella's Ear
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 May 2008; (p. 14)
— Review of Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract -
Blacker than Black World
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 17 May 2008; (p. 21)
— Review of Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract -
Views of the Past from Other Angles
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 May 2008; (p. 12-13)
— Review of Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract -
A Long Time Coming
2008
single work
interview
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , March vol. 87 no. 7 2008; (p. 47) -
Aboriginal Writing Transcends Dreamtime
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 26-27 April 2008; (p. 10) -
Indigenous Voices and Stories Echo Down the Centuries
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7 May 2008; (p. 15) -
'Ground-Breaking' Anthology Launched
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 21 May no. 426 2008; (p. 46) "The book is a significant contribution to closing the gap in understanding. For the first time in our history, the full range of Aboriginal literature is available in a single volume". Peter Minter - (Koori Mail 21/05/2008) -
Literature Anthology Gathers 81 of the Best
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: Arts Yarn Up , Autumn 2009; (p. 10)
Awards
- 2013 recipient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board Grants — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board Fellowship Awarded to the Heiss-Minter Group for the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature eBook.
- 2008 winner Deadly Sounds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community Awards — Outstanding Achievement in Literature A joint nomination for editors Anita Heiss and Peter Minter.
- Aboriginal-White relations
- Aboriginal dispossession
- Aboriginal Australians
- Stolen Generations (Australia)
- Aboriginal relationship with the land
- Landscape & identity
- Aboriginal Dreamtime
- Aboriginal land rights & native title
- Aboriginal law
- Aboriginal children
- Determination
- Memories
- Shoes
- Freedom
- Urban