growing up aboriginal in australia by anita heiss

“You wouldn’t have had it hard growing up.’ “You’re not like those other ones – you’re one of the good ones.’ ‘You’ve done really well for an Aboriginal.’ Tamika Worrell is a secondary school teacher and a Kamileroi woman. So much talent and hard work is here on display in this book and yet each story is a reminder that there is a long way to go in terms of recognition of its black history and reconciliation with its Indigenous people. Bebe Backhouse is a classical music pianist, repetiteur and teacher who organises festivals and events in Melbourne while baritone Don Bemrose is the first Aboriginal person to perform with Opera Australia. Susie Anderson is a writer and producer who’s been published in The Lifted Brow, the ABR and Voiceworks while her sister Alice is a singer-songwriter, with a beautiful haunting voice. There are also famous names from other spheres of influence: Deborah Cheetham Adam Goodes and Miranda Tapsell – but when I turn to the back of the book I discover that all the contributors are doing awe-inspiring things with their lives, even 13-year-old Taryn Little, who knows that her ancestors would be proud of her, that her grandmother would have loved all her hard work and effort, that she is a strong young woman and that she makes her family proud.

editor and author, Anita Heiss herself.

Tara June Winch, an award-winning novelist and short story and of course.

Jared Thomas who writes the kind of YA novels that adults like to read too.

Celeste Liddle (whose Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist I read online).

Ambelin Kwaymullina (whose novel The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf I reviewed for #IndigLitWeek).

Terri Janke (who operates an Indigenous owned law firm but also wrote the first Indigenous novel I ever read, Butterfly Song.

Tony Birch, an award-winning novelist and short story writer.

There are voices that I know because I’ve read their writing: In many ways this anthology will also serve to demonstrate how we contribute to, and participate in, many varied aspects of society every day. We also have recollections of growing up Aboriginal in Australia by opera singers, actors, journalists, academics and activists. … all around the country, including from boarding schools and even inside prison and from schoolchildren, university students and grandparents. The stories cover country from Nukunu to Noogar, Wiradjuri to Western Errernte, Ku Ku Yalinji to Kunibídji, Gunditjamara to Gumbaynggirr and many places in between.Įxperiences span coastal and desert regions, cities and remote communities, and all of them speak to the heart. The 50 contributors include voices from everywhere, and editor Anita Heiss pays tribute to the land first of all: There is much to learn from this anthology, but if there’s one thing that stands out it’s the diversity of Aboriginal experience.

Growing up aboriginal in australia by anita heiss