Aboriginal perspectives in the English classroom: finding texts to teach

This is an excerpt from my January 2012 ACTivATE Journal article. I plan to add more blogs with reviews and teaching notes about specific texts as I develop this site.  For another great discussion about 100 great ‘Black books’ by Aboriginal authors see http://anitaheissblog.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/anitas-bbc-black-book-choice-reading.html

In terms of locating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature, there are many resources you can use.  Anita Heiss (a Wiradjuri woman from central NSW) has co-edited several important anthologies of Aboriginal literature, including

Heiss, A & Minter P (eds.) 2008 Anthology of Australian Aboriginal Literature, McGill-Queen’s University Press

(see also Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature).

In addition, there are several large publishers of Indigenous works:

Magabala books: www.magabala.com

Fremantle Press www.fremantlepress.com

IAD Press www.iadpress.com

Indij Readers www.indijreaders.com.au

Black Ink Press www.blackinkpress.com.au

Aboriginal Studies Press www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/welcome.html

Another publisher, Laguna Bay Publishing, has teamed up with Oxford University Press to publish the very popular Yarning Strong series.  It includes 12 novels and 4 graphic novels, 4 poetry/play/art anthologies as well as teaching notes/CD-Rom.  All texts are by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writers who explore contemporary Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander identity and experiences.  The series is suitable for upper primary/lower secondary students.  Go to the website www.lagunabaypublishing.com for more information.

The Children’s Book Council 2012 awards included some new Indigenous-themed titles:

• Bronwyn Bancroft: Why I love Australia (Little Hare Books)
• One Arm Point Remote Community School: Our World: Bardi Jaawi: Life at Ardiyooloon (Magabala Books)

Another important publisher of Indigenous writing is University of Queensland Press.  Many of their writers have previously won David Unaipon Literary Awards (Awarded annually to an unpublished Indigenous author by the Premier) and they feature a section on ‘Black Australian Writing’.  Some of their titles for middle and senior secondary students are listed below, and you can find more on their website (http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/skins/uqp/_uploads/2011childrenandYA.pdf)

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL
Herb Wharton	Yumba Days 978 0 7022 3113 1 |$18.95
Doris Pilkington Garimarra	Home to Mother: A Younger Reader’s edition of Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence 978 0 7022 3546 7 | $16.95
YOUNG ADULT/SENIOR
Ruby Langford Ginibi	Don’t Take Your Love to Town 978 0 7022 3595 5 | $24.95 All My Mob 978 0 7022 3596 2 | $24.95 My Bundjalung People 978 0 7022 2637 3 |$23.95
Yvette Holt	Anonymous Premonition « 978 0 7022 3571 9 | $24.95
Vivienne Cleven	Bitin’ Back 978 0 7022 3249 7 | $19.95 Her Sister’s Eye 978 0 7022 3283 1 | $23.95
Doris Pilkington Garimara	Caprice: a Stockman’s Daughter 978 0 7022 3356 2 | $19.95 Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence 978 0 7022 3355 5 | $19.95 Under the Wintamarra Tree 978 0 7022 3308 1 | $24.00
Melissa Lukashenko	Killing Darcy « 978 0 7022 3041 7 | $18.95 Hard Yards 978 0 7022 3080 6 | $23.95
Larissa Behrendt	Home « 978 0 7022 3407 1 | $24.95
Archie Weller	The Window Seat 978 0 7022 3715 7 | $24.95
Elizabeth Hodgson	Skin Painting « 978 0 7022 3677 8 | $24.95
Samuel Wagan Watson	Smoke Encrypted Whispers 978 0 7022 3471 2 | $22.95
Robert Lowe	The Mish 978 0 7022 3327 2 | $23.95
Nan Chauncey	Tangara 978 0 7022 3610 5 | $14.95
NON FICTION, SENIOR SECONDARY
Alexis Wright	Plains of Promise 978 0 7022 2917 6 | $23.95
Fiona Doyle	Whispers of This Wik Woman 978 0 7022 3461 3 | $24.95
Jackie Huggins	Sister Girl 978 0 7022 2840 7 | $24.95
Ruth Hegarty	Bittersweet Journey 978 0 7022 3414 9 | $26.95
Sue Taffe	Black and White Together: FCAATSI (The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders 1958–1972) 978 0 7022 3511 5 | $24.95
Paul Memmott	Gunyah, Goondie & Wurley 978 0 7022 3245 9 | $90.00
Rod Moss	The Hard Light of Day: An Artist’s Story of Friendship in Arrernte Country 978 0 7022 3774 4 | $39.95

 

In the ACT Association for the Teaching of English’s February professional development, 2011, I co-presented a session with Marie-Ann Holdich about the books we enjoy teaching.  Marie-Ann ran a very successful Aboriginal literature unit at The Canberra College for some time, and I was lucky enough to be a student in this course in the late 1990s.  A copy of our PowerPoint is available on the ACTATE website and some of the books we mentioned were:

 

• Terri Janke, Butterfly Song (older readers)
• Tara June Winch, Swallow the Air (older readers)
• Boori Monty Pryor, Maybe Tomorrow (could be adapted for high school – accessible to wide range of readers)
• Sally Morgan, My Place (high school – and there is also a picture book version)

See Term 1, 2011 Workshop at http://www.actate.org.au/teaching-resources/

 

BLACKWORDS: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER WRITERS AND STORYTELLERS

AustLit has a section on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Literature, cataloguing lists of authors and titles from different states.  Any member of the National Library of Australia (and many universities and educational institutions) can subscribe to this resource: http://www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/BlackWords.  It also includes a timeline of important events in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, as these are often the subject of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature.

 

From this resource I have compiled a list of Aboriginal Authors and their titles.  I’ll leave it to you to look up titles of interest and find out more about their content, literary merits, and applicability to your teaching.

 

Author & Heritage	Title	Publishing details
Short stories/Poetry
Ali Cobby Eckermann (ed.) Anangu, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara of north west of South Australia.	See my world: poetry and short stories by young Aboriginal writers.	Northern Territory Writers’ Centre, 2010 ISBN 9780646534237
Karl Jananbi Dank (ed.)	This Country Anytime Anywhere: An Anthology of New Indigenous Writing from the Northern Territory.	IAD Press & Northern Territory Writers’ Centre, 2010 ISBN 9781864651027
Colleen Johnson, Leni Shilton, Rita Fisher and Melissa McAllister (eds.)	My Hands, Your Pen, A Voice: a collection of writing by Indigenous Creative Writing Students 2009.	Batchelor Press, 2009 ISBN 1741311837
Ambelin Kwaymullina Bailgu and Nyamal people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.	The Butterfly Birthday	Westerly vol.54 no.2 November 2009  periodical issue (pp.116-125)
Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative project with Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors	Urgent: what would you do if this happened to you?	Random House Australia, 2003 ISBN 1740519043
Kaye McPherson	The Song Tip of the Dreaming Snake	In The Girl Who Married a Fly and other Stories AATE, 1997 ISBN 1875659129
Includes Aboriginal authors	Mitch? Short Stories for Short Attention Spans	Self-published by Anthony Mitchell, 2000 ISBN 0646375334
Jack Cook Ngal, Anmatyerre elder, Yuelamu NW of Alice Springs	Anengkerr Angkety Dreaming Stories	Batchelor Press, 2007 ISBN 9781741311228
Novels
Brenton E. McKenna, Broome, WA	Ubby’s Underdogs: the Legend of the Phoenix Dragon	Magabala Books, 2011 ISBN 9781921248313
Esther Fischer of the Gugu Yalanji Burungu people at Mossman	Walkabout with our mates	Black Ink Press, 2010 ISBN 9781863340878
Richard Frankland, coastal South-West Victoria	Digger J. Jones	Scholastic Press, 2007 ISBN 9781865048567
Lisa Wilyuka Luritja woman from Titjikala, Alice Springs & David Spillman	Us Mob Walawurru	Magabala Books, 2006 ISBN 1875641874
Fran Dobbie Yuin woman, South Coast NSW	Whisper Paper bag dreams	Hodder Headline Australia, 2000 & 2004 ISBN 0733612075 ISBN 0733614582
Boori Pryor Kungganji and Birrigubba people of North Queensland. & Meme McDonald	My Girragundji – Book 1 The Binna Binna Man – Book 2 Nunjul the Sun – Book 3 Shake a leg – children’s book	Allen & Unwin 1998 ISBN 1864488182 1999 ISBN 1865080713 2002 ISBN 186508641X Allen & Unwin, 2010 ISBN 1741758904
Jared Thomas, South Australia	Sweet Guy	IAD Press, 2005 ISBN 1864650508
Melissa Lucashenko Yugambeh/Bundjalung heritage	Too Flash Killing Darcy	Jukurrpa Books, 2002 ISBN 1864650486 University of QLD Press, 1998 ISBN 0702230413
Derek Pugh and the Sunshine Girls (A teacher from the Northern Territory who co-wrote Tammy Damulkurra with The Sunshine Girls – ten students from his school)	Tammy Damulkurra	Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 ISBN 085575284X
James G. Porter, Port Pirie in South Australia	The Talking Mountains The edge of the rainforest Long White Cloud Hapkas Girl The swiftest Isle	Hodder and Stoughton, 1993 ISBN 0340535792 University of QLD Press, 1991 ISBN 0702223506 University of QLD Press, 1989 ISBN 0702221953 Cassell Australia, 1980 ISBN 0726967998 Hodder and Stoughton, 1977 ISBN 03402119181
Louise West	Island in the Mist	In Taste of Cockroach and other Stories. AATE 1974 ISBN 0909955166
Plays
Jason De Santis Milikapiti, Northern Territory, belonging to the Tiwi people	Wulamanayuwi and the seven Pamanui (based on Snow White and the seven dwarves)	www.cyberpaddock.com.au/ (Sighted 18/04/2011).
Kymarra (Kamarra) Bell-Wykes South East Queensland belonging to the Jagera and Dalingbara people.	Body Armour Chopped Liver	Ilbijerri Theatre Company http://ilbijerri.com.au/whats-on/body-armour/ (Sighted 21/08/2011)
Julia Torpey Eora people in New South Wales	Urgent	http://2008.nextwave.org.au/ (Sighted 27/10/2008).

 

Finally, while attending a lecture at Deakin University by Clare Bradford (as part of the Australian Government Summer School for Teachers in 2008), I was given information about children’s books as sites for political discussions of race relations and Aboriginal history, and the relevance of using them in secondary classrooms.  Of course, Shaun Tan’s beautiful book The Rabbits would fit well here, but here is a list of books recommended by Clare:

 

• Berolah, Lorraine, Lilyjane Collins and Noel Crustaufo 1996, Betty and Bala and the Proper Big Pumpkin, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld.
• Burton, Daphne Punytjina, and Carolyn Windy 2000, Kupi-Kupi and the Girl, Magabala Books, Broome, W.A.
• Edwards, Yvonne, and Brenda Day 1997, Going for Kalta: Hunting for Sleepy Lizards at Yalata. IAD, Alice Springs.
• Greene, Gracie, Joe Tramacchi and Lucile Gill 1992, Tjarany Roughtail, Magabala Books, Broome.
• Malbunka, Mary 2003, When I was Little, Like You, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest NSW.
• Papunya School Book of Country and History 2001, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
• Randall, Bob, and Kunyi June-Anne McInerney 2003, Tracker Tjugingji. IAD Press, Alice Springs.
• Russell, Elaine 2004, The Shack that Dad Built, Little Hare Books, Surry Hills, NSW.
• Utemorrah, Daisy, and Pat Torres 1990, Do Not Go Around the Edges. Magabala Books, Broome, W.A.
• Russell, Elaine 2001, A is for Aunty, Sydney, ABC Books.
• Williams, Edna Tantjingu, Eileen Wani Wingfield, and Kunyi June-Anne McInerney 2000, Down the Hole, Up the Tree, Across the Sandhills…Running from the State and Daisy Bates. IAD, Alice Springs.

 

References

Blackwords: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers and Storytellers, AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au), 2002- [Retrieved 21/08/2011].

Bradford, Clare 2008, Children’s and Young Adult Literature Lecture Notes, Australian Government Summer School for Teachers, Deakin University, Geelong, January

Note that AUSTLIT is now hosting a new project started in 2011 called The Asian-Australian Children’s Literature and Publishing (AACLAP) to provide primary and secondary sources for developing literature-focused educational programs in line with the National Curriculum (http://www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/ChildLit/AsianAustChildLit)

 

Thanks to Clare Bradford and AustLit for granting permission to reproduce their work in this article.  I would also like to express my appreciation to Jeanine Leane for her advice and discussion about this article.