Cirrus@Austlit

'Aboriginal Australians are a colonised people without a just and proper settlement having been negotiated over the last two hundred and forty years. This is indisputable. What has been at issue is the way in which Aboriginal people can achieve sovereignty, and the modern Australian democracy can decolonise. First we must take stock of the current situation in order to make meaningful steps forward.'  (Introduction)

'Sometimes I think I was born an historian. I was certainly a child who asked many, many questions. This was often a burden and an embarrassment to my mixed-race mother, who could be identified as Aboriginal in some contexts, and who was anxious to fly under the radar in conformist and settled rural New South Wales of the 1950s and 1960s.' (Introduction)

'In this centenary year of Patrick White’s birth I have found myself reflecting on his relationship to Australian history and in so doing reflecting also on the nature of history itself. History changes with the changing nature of the societies that produce ideas about the past. What is important about Patrick White is that, while seeking to reflect Australia’s social, intellectual and cultural life back on itself as a novelist and playwright, he was deeply engaged with issues in Australian history, as they existed at that time. In this regard, he understood the difficulty of coming to terms with the most unsavoury aspects of our past and advised Australians:

The flow of history is what we have to face and adapt ourselves to. The adjustments we may have to make may be pretty agonising. But they will have to be made (Brennan and Flynn 1989: 85).

(Introduction)

'The interviewing of Aboriginal people about their family history, that is, about their relatives, on radio proved to be an innovation that provides a “snapshot” of a person’s history and identity. Interviews such as these can become more precious over time. This is the case with Aunty June Barker’s interview on BlakChat a program on Koori Radio and the Gadigal Information Service in Sydney, that is reproduced below. The exact reproduction of this interview in text provides an opportunity to explore Aboriginal English expression and sentiment, proof of cultural continuity amongst the Aboriginal people of southeast Australia,as well as hearing a unique and important story of one family’s history.'

Source: Abstract.

'This is a book that surprised me in the way that it gripped my attention. After some decades of Aboriginal biography and autobiography, many of which are concerned with removal fromfamily, one could be excused for thinking that there is not much that has not already been told.While every individual’s story is important and deeply personal to them and their kin, this book isinnovative and I venture to say groundbreaking in terms of the methodological approach of thewriter Mary Terszak. It is also very good story telling by an engaging and attractive personality.' (Introduction)

'This discussion paper argues for the centrality of Aboriginal Spirituality in the practice of social and emotional wellbeing and for applications in all areas of Aboriginal development. Although often mentioned in the literature on Aboriginal health and social and emotional wellbeing, Spirituality has been in danger of becoming one of the undefined terms—like wellbeing, community, identity —that are used in various contexts and with various meanings attached, and in ways that obscure the reality of Indigenous Australian knowledges, philosophies and practices. In common with terms such as the Dreaming , it has lost significant meaning when translated into English. This discussion paper importantly defines Aboriginal Spirituality by privileging the voices of Aboriginal people themselves and those of well-respected observers of Aboriginal culture. It demonstrates how those who are well exemplify Spirituality in everyday life and cultural expression. Having commonalities with internationalIndigenous groups, it is also deeply appreciated by non-Aboriginal people who understand and value the different ontologies (understandings of what it means to be ), epistemologies (as ways of knowing ) and axiologies (the bases of values and ethics) that Aboriginal philosophy embodies, as potential value to all peoples.' (Publication introduction)

'The responsibility attached to the writing of Indigenous Australians’ histories is immense: no other history has the potential to impact on the present and the future and excite contention and debate to such a high degree. For myself, I approach the task with some misgiving as the fallout can be resounding – my research interest,Indigenous family history with the reality of mixed race marriages and liaisons, is a potential minefield ... ' (Introduction)