austega's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
This book was perfect for me, providing a wide diversity of accounts of the experience of growing up Aboriginal in Australia since the mid 1900s. Great opportunity for greater awareness and understanding.
bexi's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Bullying, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Violence, Child abuse, Police brutality, Death of parent, Suicide, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Chronic illness, Cursing, Body shaming, Child death, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Blood, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Infidelity
a8bhatia's review against another edition
3.0
I think this series is an excellent idea. There is importance and power within the stories of real people and their experiences. Reading this collection felt very authentic and geniuine, nothing overly edited. Plus I learned a lot about the Inidgenious people of Australia, a group I did not know a lot about. I look forward to reading the other books in this series.
kaitlyns_library's review
fast-paced
5.0
A powerful book that discusses resilience throughout generations of First Nations people.
stanro's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
With the gathering debate about The Voice, this is a timely read.
As Heiss said in her introduction to the book, “There is no single or simple way to define what it is to grow up Aboriginal in Australia.”
50 Aboriginal people had their contribution selected from a few hundred submissions for publication. The writers are of various ages, differing educational achievement, diverse circumstances, from varied communities and of a range of sexual expression. They work in a variety of fields including the visual and performing arts, sport, teaching, community activism and other professions.
What every story has in common is the casual racism that they encounter. Some encounter more systemic or institutional racism, such as growing up at a time when they were taken from their families under application of government policy, or living under the permit system, being unable to travel from their reserve to a nearby city without a permit.
What many stories contain is the assertion that Aboriginality is not a function of skin colour or genetic quotient. It is recurringly asserted as identity. And they are impatient, indeed offended, by being asked about it. As Tamika Worrell put it, “I will not sit quietly while my identity is questioned.”
The contribution by Don Bemrose takes a different approach to many. Rather than recounting chronologically a segment of his life, he repeatedly apologises to Australia for all the many ways he has disappointed us by over-achieving our low expectations of him, such as by being professionally successful. And for being gay.
And then there is his fellow gay opera performer, the wonderful soprano Deborah Cheetham, who at the time of writing was awaiting a positive outcome of the gay marriage plebiscite. She distinguishes between “growing up,” and “growing up Aboriginal” - the latter being decades after the former. Remarkably, she acknowledges her debt to Andrew Bolt for some of this later growth. I hope that Cheetham has since had that wedding with 200 close friends and relatives that she hoped for.
Tony Birch, author of the excellent novel The White Girl, contributes about his family, speaking frankly and almost dispassionately about his father’s violence. Within his contribution, you can see a glimmer of that book.
Jack Latimore writes, and writes so well, of his search to be Aboriginal.
At this point, I was determined to not keep listing the writers of chapters any more. But I found myself unable to ignore William Russell’s contribution, running two stories interchanging between early childhood and his late adulthood. And, not the only one to do so, asserting his people while questioning whether he could accept being Australian. I feel I understand a little of that. He’s also a poet whose work I will try to track down.
There are fifty contributors in all and I could happily write a paragraph or more about each.
It can be a confronting read, concretising and making personal what we may know in theory or at great distance. As audio, it takes on for me a greater authenticity by having a “non-me” voice in my head rather than my own reading voice. I have to face the humanity of that otherness. It’s a good read. With its short stand-alone chapters, it can be dipped into and returned to later. Though my preference for full immersion provides, I think, more than the sum of its parts.
If you want to read a book to bring to life a form of otherness within “multicultural” Australia, underpinning what we call Australia, this is a good place to start. And, one last contributor mention, Alison Whittaker’s Aboriginemo - so out of my experience - makes the read even more worthwhile. I read that one over again immediately, before proceeding to the next.
As Heiss said in her introduction to the book, “There is no single or simple way to define what it is to grow up Aboriginal in Australia.”
50 Aboriginal people had their contribution selected from a few hundred submissions for publication. The writers are of various ages, differing educational achievement, diverse circumstances, from varied communities and of a range of sexual expression. They work in a variety of fields including the visual and performing arts, sport, teaching, community activism and other professions.
What every story has in common is the casual racism that they encounter. Some encounter more systemic or institutional racism, such as growing up at a time when they were taken from their families under application of government policy, or living under the permit system, being unable to travel from their reserve to a nearby city without a permit.
What many stories contain is the assertion that Aboriginality is not a function of skin colour or genetic quotient. It is recurringly asserted as identity. And they are impatient, indeed offended, by being asked about it. As Tamika Worrell put it, “I will not sit quietly while my identity is questioned.”
The contribution by Don Bemrose takes a different approach to many. Rather than recounting chronologically a segment of his life, he repeatedly apologises to Australia for all the many ways he has disappointed us by over-achieving our low expectations of him, such as by being professionally successful. And for being gay.
And then there is his fellow gay opera performer, the wonderful soprano Deborah Cheetham, who at the time of writing was awaiting a positive outcome of the gay marriage plebiscite. She distinguishes between “growing up,” and “growing up Aboriginal” - the latter being decades after the former. Remarkably, she acknowledges her debt to Andrew Bolt for some of this later growth. I hope that Cheetham has since had that wedding with 200 close friends and relatives that she hoped for.
Tony Birch, author of the excellent novel The White Girl, contributes about his family, speaking frankly and almost dispassionately about his father’s violence. Within his contribution, you can see a glimmer of that book.
Jack Latimore writes, and writes so well, of his search to be Aboriginal.
At this point, I was determined to not keep listing the writers of chapters any more. But I found myself unable to ignore William Russell’s contribution, running two stories interchanging between early childhood and his late adulthood. And, not the only one to do so, asserting his people while questioning whether he could accept being Australian. I feel I understand a little of that. He’s also a poet whose work I will try to track down.
There are fifty contributors in all and I could happily write a paragraph or more about each.
It can be a confronting read, concretising and making personal what we may know in theory or at great distance. As audio, it takes on for me a greater authenticity by having a “non-me” voice in my head rather than my own reading voice. I have to face the humanity of that otherness. It’s a good read. With its short stand-alone chapters, it can be dipped into and returned to later. Though my preference for full immersion provides, I think, more than the sum of its parts.
If you want to read a book to bring to life a form of otherness within “multicultural” Australia, underpinning what we call Australia, this is a good place to start. And, one last contributor mention, Alison Whittaker’s Aboriginemo - so out of my experience - makes the read even more worthwhile. I read that one over again immediately, before proceeding to the next.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
5.0
‘What is it like? What does it mean to grow up Aboriginal in Australia?’
I picked up this anthology, wondering how many different experiences it would contain. I wondered, too, whether there would be a generational difference, whether the experiences of younger people might be more positive. The answer to my first question is that this anthology contains more than 50 contributions, and each one is different. The answer to my second question is, sadly, no. Some young people may have experienced less discrimination and disadvantage, but others have not. Reading through these accounts, I’m made aware of some of the less obvious forms discrimination takes. It’s a difficult and at times confronting read.
Anita Heiss writes:
‘There is no single or simple way to define what it means to grow up Aboriginal in Australia, but this anthology is an attempt to showcase as many of the diverse voices, experiences and stories together as possible.’
Each contribution, each account of growing up Aboriginal in Australia is unique. The writers are of different ages, have different writing styles and approaches to addressing the question. I found Don Bemrose’s ‘Dear Australia’ essay thought-provoking, and was inspired by Evelyn Araluen’s statement: ‘We are the dream of our ancestors.’ I agree with Adam Goodes: ‘I believe in having a dream and setting goals to achieve it.’ And then, in Ambelin Kwaymullina’s contribution, I read: ‘People ask me sometimes if I experienced any racism when I was a kid. Questions like that always make me wonder where the other person is living.’ Clearly, there is (still) more than one Australia.
I am saddened to learn that one contributor, Alice Eather (born in 1988) took her own life in June 2017. Alice wrote: ‘there’s too much negativity said and written about Aboriginal people in communities.’ Sadly, Alice was right. What can we do to change this?
There are some many different accounts. Some contributors grew up with their families, others did not. Some grew up with immediate families, but away from their Country and away from extended family networks. Some grew up in cities. Some grew up knowing which mob they belonged to and speaking their language, others did not. It’s obvious that there is no singular experience of growing up Aboriginal. Yet it’s clear from these accounts that elements of Australian society have a preconceived idea of what Aboriginal people should be. And if an Aboriginal person does not fit into that stereotype, then it is the person who is questioned, not the stereotype. One of those stereotypes relates to judgements made on skin colour as the only determinant of whether a person is an Aboriginal.
There are so many different lives, many different identities in this anthology. Contributors include children, parents, musicians, sports stars, teachers and writers.
I found this anthology both heartbreaking and inspiring. I think that all Australians should read it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
I picked up this anthology, wondering how many different experiences it would contain. I wondered, too, whether there would be a generational difference, whether the experiences of younger people might be more positive. The answer to my first question is that this anthology contains more than 50 contributions, and each one is different. The answer to my second question is, sadly, no. Some young people may have experienced less discrimination and disadvantage, but others have not. Reading through these accounts, I’m made aware of some of the less obvious forms discrimination takes. It’s a difficult and at times confronting read.
Anita Heiss writes:
‘There is no single or simple way to define what it means to grow up Aboriginal in Australia, but this anthology is an attempt to showcase as many of the diverse voices, experiences and stories together as possible.’
Each contribution, each account of growing up Aboriginal in Australia is unique. The writers are of different ages, have different writing styles and approaches to addressing the question. I found Don Bemrose’s ‘Dear Australia’ essay thought-provoking, and was inspired by Evelyn Araluen’s statement: ‘We are the dream of our ancestors.’ I agree with Adam Goodes: ‘I believe in having a dream and setting goals to achieve it.’ And then, in Ambelin Kwaymullina’s contribution, I read: ‘People ask me sometimes if I experienced any racism when I was a kid. Questions like that always make me wonder where the other person is living.’ Clearly, there is (still) more than one Australia.
I am saddened to learn that one contributor, Alice Eather (born in 1988) took her own life in June 2017. Alice wrote: ‘there’s too much negativity said and written about Aboriginal people in communities.’ Sadly, Alice was right. What can we do to change this?
There are some many different accounts. Some contributors grew up with their families, others did not. Some grew up with immediate families, but away from their Country and away from extended family networks. Some grew up in cities. Some grew up knowing which mob they belonged to and speaking their language, others did not. It’s obvious that there is no singular experience of growing up Aboriginal. Yet it’s clear from these accounts that elements of Australian society have a preconceived idea of what Aboriginal people should be. And if an Aboriginal person does not fit into that stereotype, then it is the person who is questioned, not the stereotype. One of those stereotypes relates to judgements made on skin colour as the only determinant of whether a person is an Aboriginal.
There are so many different lives, many different identities in this anthology. Contributors include children, parents, musicians, sports stars, teachers and writers.
I found this anthology both heartbreaking and inspiring. I think that all Australians should read it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith