Cirrus@Austlit

'Five years ago, with his native title claim on 20,000sq km of central Queensland perched on a legal knife edge, Col McLennan presented Federal Court judge Steven Rares with a copy of celebrated novelist Alex Miller's 2003 Miles Franklin Award-winning novel, Journey to the Stone Country. "Read it," encouraged Mr McLennan, the 60-year-old patriarch to 3000 Jangga people from the bendy scrub and sacred stone country an hour west of Mackay. The book was the literary equivalent of a native title connection report, with a lead character, the enigmatic and unforgettable Bo Rennie, drawn entirely from Mr McLennan's life and deep love of country. And it proved to be a deciding factor in the realisation of a 20-year native title dream beset by bureaucracy, clan differences and endless negotiations.' Trent Dalton.