Nearly there – new book.
I had planned on the title Battles with Bjelke and then Let My People Go, but ended up with Secrets and Lies. The subtitle is The Shocking Truth of Recent Aboriginal History, A Memoir. It is very revealing and no doubt you will be surprised many times. But also informed. It helps to understand how we got where we are today. But this is not first settlement history. It is a today book, or the last 50 years to May 2021 book. Don’t miss this exciting story! I plan to launch it at NAIDOC – National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day Observance Committee in July 2021. Check my website for a discount for early buyers – www.barbara-miller-books.com
My book Secrets and Lies starts with the Aurukun people’s fight against mining on their land in 1975 and ends with the work for constitutional recognition including the Uluru Statement.
BOOK DESCRIPTION OF SECRETS AND LIES
Barbara Russell, a young woman from a white working-class family. A ruthless Premier Bjelke-Petersen enforcing legal discrimination. What secrets lie hidden? What lies are being told?
Barbara couldn’t stand by and watch the feud of the people with governments and miners strip Australian Aboriginal communities of all they held dear. Not if she could help.
But a white woman wasn’t always welcomed. A man fascinated with her passion might be her ticket to the action. Was she strong enough to make a difference for the people, resist the temptation of love, and stand up to her family too?
In this story of secrets, lies, ideological conflict and racial discrimination laws, Barbara teams up with Mick, an Aboriginal schoolteacher. They organise remote Australian Aboriginal people to fight Bjelke and the mining companies that encroach on their land. But Bjelke has a few tricks up his sleeve and will use all in his powers in this police state to stop them.
Can the church take on the state and win in this epic battle as the church stands with the Aboriginals to challenge racism? This historical memoir is another sizzling story in the First Nations True Stories series.
With the current debate in Australia of “Voice Treaty Truth” and the worldwide issue of Black Lives Matter, this book gives many key Aboriginal people a voice and reveals the shocking truth of the hidden history of 1975 to 2021 in a near-novel like manner. Every important historical event is covered. This is one of the social justice books that you will want on your shelf. The political activism examples are not those of keyboard warriors but those of a people who took to the trenches.
If you like fast-paced action, real-life heroes, and the window opened on another culture, this book is for you. If you like books with political intrigue that bring to life an interesting historical period, you’ll love Secrets and Lies.
REVIEW OF SECRETS AND LIES
A powerful, hard-hitting yarn, from the grassroots of Cape York community-life through to the necessary development of life-changing political activism on Cape York in the 1970s and 80s.
This is a story which needs to be told and has to be taught, with lessons to learn about what should be done, and how it should (and shouldn’t) be done.
These yarns are at the roots of what still happens today, in this day and age, making it an essential read for anyone who has ties or an interest in, not just in the Cape York landscape, but across all of Government/Aboriginal politics.
A well-written and fascinating contextual read for anyone with a passion for justice for Aboriginal people.
Christine Howes, FNQ correspondent for Koori Mail
AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Congratulations to the following winners of the ABIA Awards
ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR
Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark, Julia Baird (HarperCollins Publishers, Fourth Estate)
Audio Book of the Year
Tell Me Why, Archie Roach; narrated by Archie Roach (Sound Kitchen, Simon & Schuster Australia, Simon & Schuster Australia)
Biography of the Year
The Happiest Man on Earth, Eddie Jaku (Pan Macmillan Australia, Macmillan Australia)
Also to other authors including Indigenous authors
In the children’s category, the Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year was awarded to Gunai author Kirli Saunders for her book Bindi (illustrated by Dub Leffler). Rapper Adam Briggs, alongside co-authors Kate Moon and Rachael Sarra, won the Children’s Picture Book of the Year Award for Our Home, Our Heartbeat.
Books on Yarrabah, Mapoon, William Cooper and de Quiros
The Dying Days of Segregation in Australia: Case Study Yarrabah – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GF864Q6/
White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, A Memoir – https://www.amazon.com/dp-B07CCMV6CP/
William Cooper Gentle Warrior and The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita:Quiros Torres and Janszoon
Be blessed and happy reading!