NAIDOC 2021: 8 Books to Learn From and Celebrate our First Nations’ Cultures

July 4-11 is NAIDOC Week, where we celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

This years’ theme is Heal Country! and it calls upon all Australians to seek greater protections for the lands and waters upon which we live, and work to protect cultural heritage and sacred sites from exploitation, desecration, and destruction.

We have put together a recommended reading list focused on First Nations authors, histories and cultures. This list is just the tip of the iceberg—there is a vast array of literature and research available.

We acknowledge the Country upon which we live and work, Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Born Into This by Adam Thompson

Adam Thompson brings humour, pathos and occasionally a sly twist as his characters confront racism, untimely funerals, classroom politics and—overhanging all like a discomforting, burgeoning awareness for both white and black Australia—the inexorable damage and disappearance of the remnant natural world. Imbued with wit, wisdom, anger and heartache, these engaging, thought-provoking stories vary in length, with all of them packing a punch.

Debesa by Dr. Cindy Solonec

From Nigena (Nyikina) author Dr. Cindy Solonec comes Debesa, an extraordinary and heartfelt story that chronicles the lives of the Rodriguez family of Debesa Station in the West Kimberley; their livelihood through difficult times, love of family, place and culture, and the challenges of day-to-day living on a small sheep station amid huge pastoral properties. Solonec has done a beautiful job transitioning this story from thesis to biography—from academia to mainstream—without losing any of its historical and cultural importance.

Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss

Set on timeless Wiradyuri country, where the life-giving waters of the rivers can make or break dreams, and based on devastating true events, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams) is an epic story of love, loss and belonging. The powerful Murrumbidgee River surges through town leaving death and destruction in its wake. It is a stark reminder that while the river can give life, it can just as easily take it away. Wagadhaany is one of the lucky ones. She survives. But is her life now better than the fate she escaped?

Daughter of the River Country by Dianne O’Brien

From a victim of the Stolen Generation comes this remarkable memoir of abuse, survival—and ultimately hope. Born in country NSW in the 1940s, baby Dianne is immediately taken from her Aboriginal mother. At the age of 36, while raising six kids on her own, Dianne learns she is Aboriginal and that her great-grandfather was William Cooper, a famous Aboriginal activist. Miraculously she finds a way to forgive her traumatic past and becomes a leader in her own right, vowing to help other stolen people just like her.

After Story by Larissa Behrendt

When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother, Della, on a tour of England’s most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past. Ambitious and engrossing, After Story celebrates the extraordinary power of words and the quiet spaces between. We can be ready to listen, but are we ready to hear?

Talking to my Country by Stan Grant

Talking To My Country is an extraordinarily powerful and personal meditation on race, culture and national identity. In July 2015, as the debate over Adam Goodes being booed at AFL games raged and got ever more heated, Stan Grant wrote a short but powerful piece for The Guardian. His was a personal, passionate and powerful response to racism in Australia and the sorrow, shame, anger and hardship of being an Aboriginal man. This book is Stan’s very personal meditation on what it means to be Australian, what it means to be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and what racism really means in this country.

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss

What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences, and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart—sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect.

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the ‘hunter-gatherer’ tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia’s past is required. Pascoe’s book Young Dark Emu presented the core ideas of Dark Emu in an accessible way for younger readers.