Want to learn more about modern Indigenous Australia?
Magabala Books, one of Australia’s premier Indigenous publishing companies, has been very busy preparing several books for you to enjoy.
FIFO – Fit In or F**k Off!
Melody Dia, a Nyul Nyul woman from Broome, Western Australia, has written a play, FIFO – Fit In or F**k Off! It explores the challenges faced by fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers in Australia. This unique script was selected for the 2019 Yellamundie First Nations Play Festival, which is part of the Sydney International Arts Festival. Following that, it was performed by the Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, supported by Goolarri Media (“digitising culture and community” – check them out), in Oct. 2020. What a ride for playwright Melody Dia!
The FIFO experience in Australia is a puzzle. It’s one way to make a whole lot of money but comes at a very high price. One becomes disconnected from family and friends and is transplanted into a culture of drugs and alcohol. And of course, the industry turns an enormous profit. This script dives right into the tough realities of this life and its impact on families.
And apparently, the play is good for a laugh too.
Thank You Rain!
Congratulations to Sally Morgan and Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr on the release of their third children’s picture book Thank You Rain! Uncle Johnny is the absolute rockstar behind the amazing artworks in this children’s picture book.
Johnny hand paints all the artworks featured in this book with acrylic paints and traditional ochres on watercolour paper. With many fine lines featured throughout the pages, this is a Yolŋu style called ‘rarrk’ (cross-hatching). Learn more about this technique here.
And author Sally Morgan, one of Australia’s best-known artists and writers, published My Place in 2021, which quickly earned acclaim and has sold over half a million copies. Look out for her many other books, including biographies and children’s stories. She comes from the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia, the Palyku people.
The Shield and The Spear
I wrote earlier about Indigenous literacy and the beginnings of Magabala Books at the inception of The Kimberley Land Council (KLC) in the 1970s.
Now, Joe Fox has launched his book The Shield and The Spear: The Kimberley Land Council on Sep. 1 this year. Fox has gathered all kinds of documents and uncensored accounts of its formation, stories from its early days, and important Indigenous land rights events, including the Noonkanbah blockade, for example, and the controversial James Point gas hub project (plus many more). With stunning photographs and illustrations, this is one for the coffee table.
Award-winning Children’s Books From Magabala
I notice that two Magabala Book releases won the Environment Award for Children’s Literature: Sharing by Aunty Fay Muir, Sue Lawson, and Leanne Mulgo Watson, and The River by Sally Morgan and Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr.
This award comes from The Wilderness Society. It’s awarded during Nature Book Week, which took place the week of Sep. 5.
By the way, Sharing also won the inaugural Karajia Award for First Nations storytelling and it’s very instructive to learn how this new award came about. From the Wilderness website:
“Over the last several years, we noticed that more and more First Nation authored and/or illustrated books were being submitted to the Environment Award for Children’s Literature.
Not all of these books explicitly ‘promote a love of nature;’ First Nations people have been stewards of the continent’s natural world for tens of thousands of years and continue to be so. However, many of these titles honour a connection to Country and tell stories exploring land, community, culture, and language.
That’s why we are launching the Karajia Award for Children’s Literature. An award that celebrates this continent’s First Nations authors and/or illustrated children’s books.
In Mirning culture, Karajia is a holder and teller of the ancient stories, carried from when the world was young. Senior Elder of the Mirning people, Bunna Lawrie is a Karajia. He is one of the three inaugural judges of the award and has shared this incredible name with us.”
Kunyi Takes the Children’s Book Award 2022 in Queensland
And finally, Kunyi June Anne McInerney took the Children’s Book Award at the 2022 Queensland Literary Awards, for her stunning children’s memoir, Kunyi. This book is a collection of over 60 of Kunyi’s paintings, which accompany the stories of her life in which she and her siblings were taken from their family and put in the Oodnadatta Children’s Home in South Australia during the 1950s. This is essential reading for understanding Australia’s Stolen Generations.
Magabala Books says:
“Kunyi’s story is one of healing and reconciliation. She is telling it so that the lives of the children at Oodnadatta Children’s Home will not be forgotten. This is a collection of tender and honest stories that will educate children on our nation’s history and remind adult readers of the real impact of the Stolen Generations.”
The Children’s Book Award is for books for kids aged up to 12. The prize is a fabulous AU$15,000 and is funded by the Queensland Government.
I’m hoping my new friends in the USA can be inspired by Indigenous Australian books and help expand the market for these wonderful authors and illustrators.
Which book will you buy for someone special in your life? You can broaden their horizons with a single gift!