Seven Recommendations of Books by Australian Indigenous Authors

I live on the traditional lands of the Muwinina people*. This week and every week, I pay my respects to the Palawa elders, past and present. This always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

The NovelTea Book Club is about reading the ‘classics’. That’s often been based on the western publishing industry’s definition of a classic, which is a pretty limited set of books and stories! While we’ll continue to feature these classics, there are so many rich storytelling cultures among so many groups outside of this definition. I am still learning, but I want to highlight some books by Indigenous authors that I’ve read or am looking forward to reading.

* I’m pretty sure this is correct. It was harder than it should’ve been to find out, no thanks to Lutruwita/Tasmania’s fairly horrendous history.

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Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

We here at NovelTea HQ are big fans of Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, both authors and illustrators who come from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region in WA. Between them they’ve written and illustrated numerous amazing kids books, YA novels, short stories and books of poetry. Ambelin is also a law academic at the University of Western Australia.

It was hard to choose just one book to highlight, hence the stack in the photo 😅 But I particularly loved Catching Teller Crow, a YA novel they co-wrote a couple of years ago.

Catching Teller Crow tells the story of Beth and her father and an unsolved mystery. It’s a layered story of grief and family, love and history, told from two perspectives and in a mix of prose and free verse. I flew through of the first time I read it, but was still thinking about it weeks later.

I absolutely highly recommend anything and everything by either sibling, but especially this novel.

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Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia edited by Dr Anita Heiss

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia is an anthology of experiences, edited by Dr Anita Heiss. It showcases diverse voices, styles and stories to try to answer the question “What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia?”

I recently finished reading this anthology - partly reading and partly listening to the audiobook. I absolutely recommend checking it out.The more I learn about Indigenous cultures and experience, the more I understand and appreciate the diversity of the people who identify within this group. Each contributor to this book has a unique voice, experience and relationship with their Aboriginality, and I think as a non-indigenous person it’s important for me to listen to a variety of voices rather than just accepting any one experience as ‘the Aboriginal story’.

That said, there are also common threads woven throughout a lot of these stories. Many of the contributors have struggled with their identity as Aboriginal, or external perspectives of their identity. “Not white enough to be white, not black enough to be black” is a common experience throughout the book. Almost every story of growing up includes racism and discrimination of some kind, regardless of the era. I cried at least twice, and was blindsided by the experiences that some contributors wrote about.

All in all, this is definitely an anthology worth reading or listening to - the audiobook is also excellent.

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Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

I haven’t quite finished Carpentaria, and so I’ve asked @gillyreads to write this post, since she recommended it to me in the first place.

Alexis Wright is an award-winning Waanyi writer who is, in my opinion, Australia's greatest writer. I strongly believe everyone should read at least one thing she has written, if not everything (I really need to get to the intimidatingly large Tracker). While all her work is phenomenal, my favourite book is Carpentaria. It's a book I have encouraged a lot of people to read - I've bought multiple copies to be able to lend out.

Carpentaria is a very large book, with many, many pages filled with beautiful writing in tiny print. It may be intimidating to many readers, but the reading experience was hugely impactful on me and I really believe it is worth putting in the time.

Carpentaria is an epic story, centring on the portrayal of life in a town on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Oral storytelling form blends into written words, as the story weaves around and through the lives of the unforgettable residents of Desperance with depth and complexity. Giramondo uses the word 'operatic' which fits Wright's storytelling, but I haven't really seen an adequate description of this book yet. You just have to read it.

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Top End Girl by Miranda Tapsell

One from my #tbr

I love Miranda Tapsell’s movies and podcasts, so I have a sneaky suspicion I’m going to love this memoir too!

“As a young Larrakia Tiwi girl Miranda Tapsell often felt like an outsider. Growing up, she looked for faces like hers on our screens. There weren't many. And too often there was a negative narrative around First Nation lives, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women especially. As she got older, Miranda stopped expecting others would help change things and set about doing something herself. Combining her pride in her Aboriginality and passion for romantic comedies with her love of Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and the Top End, Miranda co-wrote, produced and starred in the box office hit Top End Wedding.

In this engaging memoir, Miranda shares the path she took to acting and how her role in The Sapphires and then in Love Child inspired her to create a film about coming back to family and culture. And, it would turn out, that as she was writing her romantic lead she was also conjuring up some magic that saw a real-life love ignite. This deadly, ballad-loving rom-com nerd also asks us all to open our minds and our hearts to the importance of country and culture, In doing so, Miranda shows us how we will all be richer for it.”

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Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson

Another from my #tbr - a huge thank you to @nina.reads.books for this photo and review.

Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson was an incredible debut novel. I love a good multigenerational saga and this delivered in spades.

The book is set in fictional Darnmoor, a small country town in Australia. When you arrive the sign proclaims “Darnmoor, The Gateway to Happiness” but the local Indigenous residents don’t get to live in Darnmoor proper, their homes are located out the back of the rubbish tip and are known as the Campgrounds.

The story centres around four generations of the Billymil family. We initially meet Margaret, then her daughter Celie, her granddaughter Milli and then finally the last generation Patrick and Yarrie. Just as you become invested in one character, time moves on and it’s time for the next generation’s turn in the spotlight. This was jarring but I think an effective storytelling tool.

There are layers of racial tension throughout the book between the white people of Darnmoor and the Indigenous people. The divide runs deep. Though there are moments of happiness and joy ultimately it is a tragedy that highlights the mpact of intergenerational trauma. It is a story of an Indigenous family over several generations but also a story of the effect of colonisation on Indigenous people and their land in Australia and the violence and injustices that they have experienced.

The truly clever and fascinating part of Song of The Crocodile was that interspersed between the stories of the Billymil family were chapters dedicated to the ancient spirits that spoke to the Indigenous people throughout history. These chapters were imaginative and exquisitely written. The use of animal totems, spiritual ancestors and an almost dream like alternate storyline was so different and really worked. I won’t pretend that I understood all of the imagery but it was wonderful to read!

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The Drover’s Wife by Leah Pursell

Another recommendation from @gillyreads.

Leah Purcell is a Goa, Gunggari, Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland with an incredible breadth of talent. She has reimagined Henry Lawson’s classic short story, The Drover’s Wife (1892) in multiple formats. Initially a play in 2016, she has now written a novel, and written, starred in and directed a feature film expanding that reimagined story. This novel was such an incredible read, I really wish I’d seen the play, and will definitely be watching the film when it is released.

The influence of her play and screenwriting background is evident in her prose, and I personally found this added a lot to the reading experience. She pulls threads of the story of Molly Johnson from many places, there are whole aspects of the novel that you don’t fully see the connection to until the end.

It is beautifully written, stark in its depiction of the realities of Molly’s life struggling to care for her children, all alone in an isolated shack while her husband is off droving. The difficulties she faces are only intensified the brief times her husband returns home. Purcell confronts the myths white Australia has created about the frontier, forcing the reader to grapple with the violent reality of colonisation.

Australian literature has traditionally liked to depict our history as a battle with a brutal landscape, with hard but admirable men setting out to tame something for themselves. Of course, the truth is that the brutality came from these colonisers, that the landscape was not theirs to claim.

The story particularly looks at the way this violence was gendered and depicts confronting acts of violence that may be too much for some readers. Though so much is horrifying, The Drover’s Wife still manages to be an incredibly beautiful story, and Purcell really does manage to imbue a sense of hope, and of survival.

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My Place by Sally Morgan

And finally, My Place by Sally Morgan - definitely an Australian classic!

My Place is Sally Morgan’s autobiography, interwoven with the stories of her mother and her grandmother.

Morgan was born and grew up in Perth, in a childhood so strikingly different to what my parents would have experienced (they’re roughly the same age). Her mother and grandmother told her they were Indian, to try to shield her from the particular brand of racism directed at Indigenous Australians. My Place centres around Morgan’s experiences as an Aboriginal person, and her journey in discovering her history and drawing out the stories of her mother and grandmother.

Morgan is an amazing storyteller. This book captured me - the story itself, but also Morgan’s words and way of weaving her experiences together with those of her family. There is trauma and heartbreak, but also hope and so much familial love, demonstrated in many different ways. It is an eye-opening and uncomfortable read in many ways, for me and probably a lot of other white Australians.

If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend you pick it up. Although it was first published over 30 years ago, it remains a relevant and incredibly important book in the Australian literary landscape.