Benang : From the Heart
Fremantle
:
Fremantle Press
,
1999
Z135862
1999
single work
novel
(taught in 31 units)
In the vast expanse of Western Australia, a young Indigenous man embarks on a profound journey within himself. Labelled as the successful outcome of his white grandfather's attempts to breed the 'first white man born', Harley wants to be a failure. Finding himself at a difficult point in the history of his country, family and self, Harley's story takes the reader on an eye-opening and heartbreaking narrative of the impact of colonisation on First Nations people in Australia. From one of Australia's most revered storytellers, Benang sheds light on the ongoing struggle for cultural preservation, and is an epic and beautiful story of celebration and lament, beginning and return.
Home
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2004
Z1113719
2004
single work
novel
(taught in 10 units)
'A story of homecoming, this absorbing novel opens with a young, city-based lawyer setting out on her first visit to ancestral country. Candice arrives at "the place where the rivers meet", the camp of the Eualeyai where in 1918 her grandmother Garibooli was abducted. As Garibooli takes up the story of Candice's Aboriginal family, the twentieth century falls away.
Garibooli, renamed Elizabeth, is sent to work as a housemaid, but marriage soon offers escape from the terror of the master's night-time visits. Her displacement carries into the lives of her seven children - their stories witness to the impact of orphanage life and the consequences of having a dark skin in post-war Australia. Vividly rekindled, the lives of her family point the direction home for Candice.
Home is a ... novel from an author who understands both the capacity of language to suppress and the restorative potency of stories that bridge past and present.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)
This subject looks at the development of Black Australian writing and the way in which Black Australians have used writing to reflect their lives and consciousness. There will be an overview of Indigenous Australian literature in relation to social, historical and political contexts. Fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry and popular critically acclaimed feature films will be explored through various models of contemporary literary criticism and students will apply conventions from these, as well as their own perspectives in the appreciation and analysis of selected texts. On completion of this subject students should understand the impact and place of Black Australian writing in Australia today.
