November 30th 2019.
Authentic voices telling stories of Australian Indigenous life, history and culture are hard to find.
This month I have been fortunate enough to read two very different books, each with its own unique voice. Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences, recounted by his daughter Constance and published in 1904, provides an insight into Aboriginal culture within Queensland from the perspective of a white man growing up amongst and with local Aboriginal community members. This thought-provoking book perhaps unintentionally shines a light on the changes wrought by colonialism and the negative impact of white settlement upon the Indigenous way of life.
* As this book was written in 1904 it contains language, terminology, and generalisations that may now be considered offensive, but were commonplace at the time of publication.
The second title, Dark Emu is a masterpiece of research, knowledge sharing and truth telling by Indigenous man and author Bruce Pascoe. I would love to see this book incorporated into the Australian school curriculum as an antidote to the colonial-centric ‘potted history’ encountered by so many of us during our primary and secondary school years.
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