Cirrus@Austlit

'This referendum, if affirmed, will complete the Commonwealth of Australia through constitutional recognition of its Indigenous peoples.' (Introduction)

'Mission traces a life of politics, ideas and inspiring words. Whether he is evoking his early life among the Guugu Yimithirr Aboriginal people at Hope Vale, Queensland, or making an eloquent case for Indigenous recognition, or outlining his vision of a reconciled, multicultural Australia, Noel Pearson confirms he is one of Australia’s most powerful and influential thinkers – and an extraordinary writer.

'Mission selects the best of Pearson’s work to date. There are indelible portraits of political leaders seen close up – Keating, Rudd, Whitlam, Turnbull and more. There is Pearson’s brilliant vision of a Voice to Parliament that led eventually to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. And there are acute analyses – of passive welfare; of the fate of the Labor Party; of identity politics good and bad; and of education and the role of an inspiring teacher.

'Mission is honest, powerful, provocative and utterly original.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'The article offers the author's insights on the lack of representation and recognition of the indigenous people in the Constitution of Australia. Topics mentioned include the First Nations dialogues in Thursday Island in Queensland, Australia, the meeting in Uluru, Australia to form a consensus that aims on constitutional reforms, and the coincide of the Uluru convention with the 1967 referendum 50th anniversary.' (Publication abstract)

''How many Australians born in the 137 years since Truganini's death learnt her legend and scarcely thought deeper about the enormity of the loss she represented, and the history that led to it? Her spirit casts a long shadow over Australian history, but we have nearly all of us found a way to avert our eyes from its meaning.'

'In The War of the Worlds, Noel Pearson considers the most confronting issue of Australian history: the question of genocide, in early Tasmania and elsewhere. With eloquence and passion, he explores the 'emotional convulsions of identification and memory' that he feels on encountering these events. Re-reading Dickens and Darwin, Pearson acknowledges the 'fatal logic' of the colonial project, and seeks to draw out its meaning for Australians today.' (Publication summary)

'Up from the Mission charts the life and thought of Noel Pearson, from his early days as a native title lawyer to his position today as one of Australia's most influential figures.

'This is writing of great passion and power, which introduces a fascinating man and a compelling writer. Many of the pieces included have been hard to find until now. Gathered together in a cohesive, broad-ranging book, they show a key Australian thinker coming into being.

'Pearson evokes his early life in Hope Vale, Queensland. He includes sections of his epoch-making essay Our Right To Take Responsibility, which exposed the trap of passive welfare and proposed new ways forward. There are pieces on the apology; on Barack Obama and black leadership; on Australian party politics - Keating, Howard and Rudd; and on alcoholism, despair and what can be done to mend Aboriginal communities that have fallen apart.' (Publisher's blurb)