image of person or book cover 6067514524932720291.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Joy Williams - Janaka Wiradjuri - was a difficult personality, and she made herself so. This book explains how and why she, and so many other people like her never had a chance.

Moving from Joy's untimely death in a Primbee flat, to the ten years she spent pursuing a negligence claim against the NSW Government, through two lost appeals and on to the beginning of her life, Read takes us on a mesmerising and evocative journey that offers a rare historical insight into institutions, street life and indigenous and urban culture between 1942 and 2006.

Written in a poignant new biographical style of writing, Read uses direct speech to dramatise the work - often employing Joy's own words and incorporating many of her poems throughout the novel to confront the reader with a dynamic depth of narrative.' (From the publisher's website.)

Exhibitions

8931289
15517603

Notes

  • Epigraph: It's not fair. If I start crying I'll never stop. I never will. Sometimes I'm so frightened of dropping a cup. Or tripping on a feather. Because if I trip I can't [get up], I can't do it. And they're not going to take me out of the world like that. Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams, 2003

  • Epigraph: IF ONLY If only I had the courage to Trip over a white cockatoo feather! Listen, sisters, I would fly with rage and Let loose all the anger and Hate - For being - ME! Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams, 1996

Contents

* Contents derived from the Crawley, Inner Perth, Perth, Western Australia,:UWA Publishing , 2009 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
A Cup of Milki"'Please, Mum, may I have", Joy Williams , single work poetry (p. 70-71)
The Joy I Knewi"We talked that morning, as we often did", Barbara Nicholson , single work poetry (p. 142-144)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crawley, Inner Perth, Perth, Western Australia,: UWA Publishing , 2009 .
      image of person or book cover 6067514524932720291.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: xxxv, 149p., [8]p. of platesp.
      Description: illus., ports
      Note/s:
      • Includes:

        • Bibliography: pp.147-148.
        • Forword by Julie-Anne Williams pp. xii-xiii
        • Preface by Professor Gordon Briscoe, Australian National University pp xiii-xvii
        • Introduction pp.xxvi-xxxiii
      ISBN: 9781921401350 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

Tripping over Feathers Sarah Pinto , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 8 no. 3 2011; (p. 210-212)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Untitled Anna Cole , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History , vol. 34 no. 2010; (p. 235-237)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Untitled Kate Darian-Smith , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , June vol. 41 no. 2 2010; (p. 247-248)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Two Special Lives Celebrated Margaret Smith , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 24 March no. 472 2010; (p. 42)
'An audience of well-wishers and colleagues attended the recent Sydney launch of two major works celebrating the lives of Gordon Briscoe and Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams.' Source: Koori Mail no. 472, 24 March 2010
No Chance Sarah Kanowski , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 318 2010; (p. 36)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
No Chance Sarah Kanowski , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 318 2010; (p. 36)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Tripping Over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Jessica Broadbent , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher , November vol. 89 no. 4 2009; (p. 41)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Untitled Kate Darian-Smith , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , June vol. 41 no. 2 2010; (p. 247-248)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Untitled Anna Cole , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History , vol. 34 no. 2010; (p. 235-237)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Tripping over Feathers Sarah Pinto , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 8 no. 3 2011; (p. 210-212)

— Review of Tripping over Feathers : Scenes in the Life of Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams : A Narrative of the Stolen Generations Peter Read , 2009 single work biography
Two Special Lives Celebrated Margaret Smith , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 24 March no. 472 2010; (p. 42)
'An audience of well-wishers and colleagues attended the recent Sydney launch of two major works celebrating the lives of Gordon Briscoe and Joy Janaka Wiradjuri Williams.' Source: Koori Mail no. 472, 24 March 2010
Last amended 5 May 2015 13:25:52
X