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Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Noongar Mambara Bakitj single work   picture book   children's  
Note: An old story retold by Kim Scott and Lomas Roberts and the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project; illustrations by Geoffrey Woods; English text by Kim Scott.
Issue Details: First known date: 2011... 2011 Noongar Mambara Bakitj
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A young man follows a kangaroo track deep into the old people's country. Along the way he meets some spirit creatures ("mambara") who allow him to go on. But after he has hunted down the kangaroo, one mambara is angry and demands a fight ("bakitj"). All day they fight, until the Noongar discovers he is a magic person and defeats the mambara.

'This book is inspired by a story Bob Roberts and Freddie Winmer told the American linguist Gerhardt Laves at Albany, Western Australia, around 1931. It has been workshopped in a series of community meetings, which included some of the contemporary family of both Bob Roberts and Freddie Winmer.

'This story is told in old Noongar, contemporary Noongar and English.' (From the publisher's website.)

Exhibitions

6943772
8709801
15517923

Notes

  • Book launched at the Albany Entertainment Centre on Friday, 16 September 2011. Iris Woods and Kim Scott spoke at the launch, which featured Lester Coyne as MC.
  • To download a reading of this story go to www.wirlomin.com.au and follow the prompts.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Language: Aboriginal Noongar AIATSIS: languages. AIATSIS ref. (W41) (WA SI50) , English
Notes:
Text published in Noongar language and English.

Works about this Work

Not so Easy Kim Scott , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Griffith Review , no. 47 2015; (p. 200-214)

'A young man - scarcely more than a boy - stands on a rock beside the deep sea. A whale surfaces next to him, almost within reach. I can't say if the boy knows the whale, but he knows of the whale: all his life he's watched families of them travel along this coast. Recently, he learned the words of one such journey.' (Publication abstract)

Finding a Place in Story : Kim Scott’s Writing and the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project Natalie Quinlivann , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014;

'In True Country, the narrator draws the reader close and says, “You listen to me. We’re gunna make a story, true story. You might find it’s here you belong. A place like this.” (15) Although the narrator speaks of ‘(a) place like this’ as “a beautiful place (…). Call it our country, our country all ‘round here” (15), belonging, for the reader, for the characters in each of Scott’s novels, and for Scott himself, is more than settling into a physical environment, belonging is finding a place in the story.

'Mamang, Noongar Mambara Bakitj, Dwoort Baal Kaat, and Yira Boornak Nyininy are major achievements in Scott and The Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project’s process of returning, restoring and rejuvenating language and story within the Noongar community and for an ever-widening public. In their form, content and intent, the stories renegotiate ideas of place and placement, confronting personal, cultural and linguistic dislocations in Noongar lives as well as an ambivalent narrative landscape in which language and story are central to both a lingering colonialism and the process of decolonisation.' (Publication abstract)

A Voice for His Country Victoria Laurie , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 May 2013; (p. 26)
'Prize-winning author Kim Scott is helping drive a project to revive his traditional language, writes Victoria Laurie.'
Hanging On Christine Nicholls , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 338 2012; (p. 63-64)

— Review of Mamang Kim Scott , Iris Woods , 2011 single work picture book ; Noongar Mambara Bakitj Kim Scott , Lomas Roberts , 2011 single work picture book
Untitled Lefki Kailis , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 25 no. 4 2011; (p. 41)

— Review of Mamang Kim Scott , Iris Woods , 2011 single work picture book ; Noongar Mambara Bakitj Kim Scott , Lomas Roberts , 2011 single work picture book
Untitled Clive Tilsley , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , August vol. 91 no. 2 2011; (p. 32)

— Review of Mamang Kim Scott , Iris Woods , 2011 single work picture book ; Noongar Mambara Bakitj Kim Scott , Lomas Roberts , 2011 single work picture book
Untitled Lefki Kailis , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 25 no. 4 2011; (p. 41)

— Review of Mamang Kim Scott , Iris Woods , 2011 single work picture book ; Noongar Mambara Bakitj Kim Scott , Lomas Roberts , 2011 single work picture book
Hanging On Christine Nicholls , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 338 2012; (p. 63-64)

— Review of Mamang Kim Scott , Iris Woods , 2011 single work picture book ; Noongar Mambara Bakitj Kim Scott , Lomas Roberts , 2011 single work picture book
Stories from the Elders Paula Grunseit , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Inside History , November/December no. 7 2011; (p. 64-66)
'A new series of books by author Kim Scott and the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project in Western Australia sees old stories rediscovered and reshaped to be passed on to a new audience. Paula Grunseit speaks with Scott, twice winner of the Miles Franklin award, about language regeneration, loss, connection, and the sharing of stories.' (p 64)
A Voice for His Country Victoria Laurie , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 May 2013; (p. 26)
'Prize-winning author Kim Scott is helping drive a project to revive his traditional language, writes Victoria Laurie.'
Finding a Place in Story : Kim Scott’s Writing and the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project Natalie Quinlivann , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014;

'In True Country, the narrator draws the reader close and says, “You listen to me. We’re gunna make a story, true story. You might find it’s here you belong. A place like this.” (15) Although the narrator speaks of ‘(a) place like this’ as “a beautiful place (…). Call it our country, our country all ‘round here” (15), belonging, for the reader, for the characters in each of Scott’s novels, and for Scott himself, is more than settling into a physical environment, belonging is finding a place in the story.

'Mamang, Noongar Mambara Bakitj, Dwoort Baal Kaat, and Yira Boornak Nyininy are major achievements in Scott and The Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project’s process of returning, restoring and rejuvenating language and story within the Noongar community and for an ever-widening public. In their form, content and intent, the stories renegotiate ideas of place and placement, confronting personal, cultural and linguistic dislocations in Noongar lives as well as an ambivalent narrative landscape in which language and story are central to both a lingering colonialism and the process of decolonisation.' (Publication abstract)

Not so Easy Kim Scott , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Griffith Review , no. 47 2015; (p. 200-214)

'A young man - scarcely more than a boy - stands on a rock beside the deep sea. A whale surfaces next to him, almost within reach. I can't say if the boy knows the whale, but he knows of the whale: all his life he's watched families of them travel along this coast. Recently, he learned the words of one such journey.' (Publication abstract)

Aboriginal Children's Literature : More Than Just Pretty Pictures Anita Heiss , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 102-117) The BlackWords Essays 2015; (p. 7) The BlackWords Essays 2019;

'This essay explores how some recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authored titles have used local languages and personal histories - including complex stories which deal with the Stolen Generations - to engage and educate young Australian readers, while providing much needed inspiration to nurture Indigenous audiences.' (Source: Heiss, Anita, Aboriginal Literature for Children: More Than Just Pretty Pictures, 2015)

Last amended 12 Apr 2017 16:13:19
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