Barbara Miller Books Newsletter April 2024 


With all the bad news the last few months, I hope you have some light reading you can do occasionally. Or even some books to read that are stimulating and intriguing and take you on an interesting journey.


These are my two memoirs which are really histories as well and how I came to be part of the story. Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Australian Aboriginal HIstory, A Memoir is my second memoir. This is one interesting review:

This passionate and deeply researched book shines a light on what Aboriginal really means. The author’s unique style of gonzo journalism is fascinating, and illustrates the power of on-the-ground reporting. Despite it being a work of history, this story feels incredibly timely, given the ongoing political battles for First Nation rights in other parts of the globe. All told, Secrets and Lies is an eye-opening and fearless reflection on a vital topic.

Self-Publishing Review

White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, A Memoir. See one of many reviews:
This is a highly engaging and inspiring memoir. At its centre is the story of Mapoon which has all the elements of a great drama with the violent expulsion of the community in 1963 and their triumphant return eleven years later. As the author explains she came almost by chance to be at the very centre of the drama which in turn dramatically changed her life. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in political and social change over the last 50 years.

Professor Henry Reynolds,FAHA FASSA University of Tasmania, eminent historian and award-winning author

For more information see 

Secrets and Lies book trailer

BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE


Picking up a new book and losing yourself between its pages for the afternoon — or into the early hours of the morning — is one of life’s simplest pleasures. And 2024 is already shaping up to be a brilliant year for books. Let’s have a look at refinery29.com’s list of the 27 Best New Books of 2024.



William Cooper Gentle Warrior: Standing Up for Australian Aborigines and Persecuted Jews is the first book by Barbara Miller on William Cooper and tells his amazing story and that of the Australian Aborigines’ League as they work for the uplift of their people and stand up for Jews at Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust when Aborigines were not citizens in their own nation. The two books pictured here are updates on that book, one focusing on his contribution to Aboriginal causes and the other on his support for Jewish people.

FIND THESE WILLIAM COOPER BOOKS WHCH GO TOGETHER-  HERE

Launch of Dying Days of Segregation book launch at Yarrabah Aboriginal community

Have You Always Dreamed of Being a Published Author? – The Successful Author Kit is for You.

Bestselling author Barbara Miller has produced the following guides to help you on your way to fulfilling your dream. It is called the Successful Author Kit. She knows what it takes to have a successful writing career. You can get the following guides in the kit:

  • Guide to Choosing Your Niche
  • Guide to Finding Your Book Topic and Title
  • Guide to Structuring Your Non-Fiction Book, and as a bonus
  • List of Resources for Authors

If you would like more information, check it out HERE  

My books can be found at the Munganbana Reef and Rainforest Aboriginal Art Gallery at 33 Lake St Cairns, at Cairns Books bookshop at Cairns Central Shopping Centre, on Amazon, and here on my website.

Happy reading!!



Left – Who were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil and where did it happen? Find out in “The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita: Quiros, Torres and Janszoon.” Check it out here.

Right – Available as an audio book – a first-hand account of the Holocaust from a Polish Jewish woman who faced death daily in “If I Survive.” Find out more here. Happy reading!!

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter January 2024 

Do you like to read on your holidays? Or on weekends? Do you like to munch as you eat or have a favourite spot like an armchair or the beach? Welcome to 2024 and a great year of reading!

Left – My 3 journals for Bible study reflections, prayer musings and sermon notes or reflections on youtube messages you watch. Right – Presenting Munganbana Norman Miller’s book Reef and Rainforest: An Aboriginal Voice Through Art and Story with 200 paintings in it to former Lord Mayor of Brisbane Sallyanne Atkinson at the Writers Festival in Cairns.
For more information see 

BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE

Picking up a new book and losing yourself between its pages for the afternoon — or into the early hours of the morning — is one of life’s simplest pleasures. And 2024 is already shaping up to be a brilliant year for books. Let’s have a look at refinery29.com‘s list of the 27 Best New Books of 2024.

FIND THESE WILLIAM COOPER BOOKS WHCH GO TOGETHER- HERE

FIND THESE WILLIAM COOPER BOOKS WHCH GO TOGETHER- HERE

Have You Always Dreamed of Being a Published Author? – The Successful Author Kit is for You.

Bestselling author Barbara Miller has produced the following guides to help you on your way to fulfilling your dream. It is called the Successful Author Kit. She knows what it takes to have a successful writing career. You can get the following guides in the kit:

  • Guide to Choosing Your Niche
  • Guide to Finding Your Book Topic and Title
  • Guide to Structuring Your Non-Fiction Book, and as a bonus
  • List of Resources for Authors

If you would like more information, check it out HERE

My books can be found at the Munganbana Reef and Rainforest Aboriginal Art Gallery at 33 Lake St Cairns, at Cairns Books bookshop at Cairns Central Shopping Centre, on Amazon, and on my website.

Happy reading!!

Michele Klawitter
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on 8 November 2023
Verified Purchase

Barbara Miller’s “Voice Treaty Truth: Has the Christian Voice Been Heard?” offers a comprehensive exploration of Australian race relations, mirroring global trends. It examines the recent divisive referendum for an Indigenous representative body in the constitution, known as a Voice to parliament. As a pastor, sociologist, and historian with extensive experience in First Nations affairs, Miller provides a balanced Christian perspective on this critical issue.

The book fosters understanding of the consequences of colonialism, the Christian role in reconciliation, and the potential for a more united nation. It also sheds light on racism, inequality, and separatism, giving readers insight into these complex issues. “Voice Treaty Truth” is a vital read, providing a deep understanding of the complexities of Australian race relations.

See more, maybe grab a copy

Left – Who were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil and where did it happen? Find out in “The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita: Quiros, Torres and Janszoon.” Check it out here.

Right – Available as an audio book – a first-hand account of the Holocaust from a Polish Jewish woman who faced death daily in “If I Survive.” Find out more here.

The Dying Days of Segregation in Australia: Case Study Yarrabahgives a blow-by-blow description of the days of apartheid in Qld and how an Aboriginal community lobbied tirelessly for local government and finally got it in 1984 and their progress to today with land rights and native title. Hear the words of Aboriginal leaders themselves. Find it HERE.

William Cooper Gentle Warrior: Standing Up for Australian Aborigines and Persecuted Jews is the first book by Barbara Miller on William Cooper and tells his amazing story and that of the Australian Aborigines’ League as they work for the uplift of their people and stand up for Jews at Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust when Aborigines were not citizens in their own nation. Find it HERE 

7 Steps on How to Change Your Nation Community Find out more

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter March 2023

My book Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Aboriginal History, A Memoir has continued to be no 1 bestseller in Civil Law and Public Law on Amazon Au for over a year. it is no 2 in International Treaties.

Have You Always Dreamed of Being a Published Author? – The Successful Author Kit is for You.

Bestselling author Barbara Miller has produced the following guides to help you on your way to fulfilling your dream. It is called the Successful Author Kit. She knows what it takes to have a successful writing career. You can get the following guides in the kit:

  • Guide to Choosing Your Niche
  • Guide to Finding Your Book Topic and Title
  • Guide to Structuring Your Non-Fiction Book, and as a bonus
  • List of Resources for Authors

If you would like more information, check it out here http://bit.ly/3mbVaU1

My book Secrets and Lies is no 9 and White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, A Memoir is no 10 in Civil Rights and Liberties on Amazon Au. My book The Dying Days of Segregation in Australia: Case Study Yarrabah is no 14 in Civil Rights Law on Amazon Au.

BOOK PUNS

Bookriot.com brings us the following library puns:

What building has the most stories? The library.

Mind if I check you out?

Libraries are good for circulation.

Dewey belong together?

Are you paying attention? You seem a bit checked out.

What does one library book say to the other? “Can I take you out?”

ISBN thinking about you.

Books stay warm with book jackets.

A man goes into a library and asks for a book on cliffhangers. The librarian says:

Ice cream for a good book.

Beverages are allowed in the library, but please don’t pour milk on our serials.

Page me if you want to read me.

Did you return your books late? Because you have fine written all over you.

I just can’t help my shelf.

May the library bring you many happy returns.

I’ve never metadata I didn’t like.

My love for you is overdue.

I asked the librarian if she knew the author of a dinosaur book. She said try Sarah Topps.

Believe in your shelf.

I wanted to visit the world’s biggest library but it was overbooked.

Exciting Musical Composition

There is an exciting musical composition with Jewish and Aboriginal collaboration. The article in the Jewish Chronicle says:

“In the ‘cinematic’ song cycle, Lior narrates the story in English, while Lou Bennett — Cooper’s great-great niece — “occupies the spirit” of Cooper, singing in Yorta Yorta. Lior, a fluent Hebrew speaker, opens the piece in his native language — with an extract from Psalm 137.”

The article also quotes William Cooper’s grandson Uncle Boydie’s comments in the foreword of my (Barbara Miller’s) book William Cooper Gentle Warrior.

“Uncle Boydie — whose voice is used in the culminating song by Lior and Westlake — wrote in the foreword to William Cooper: Gentle Warrior, a book by Barbara Miller: ‘Grandfather could sadly recognise that same affliction of fear, desperation, bewilderment and a sense of hopelessness which the Jewish people faced in Europe. When many countries around the world would not act, he did’.”

Photo of Lou Bennett See the full article.

Handbook – The Holocaust and the Australian Aboriginal Response

  by Barbara Miller

This 100+ page online resource is offered free of charge to educators and students, as long as the source is credited. To arrange your copy, or for more information, email the publishers, the WAH! Foundation – elirab@iinet.net.au

It covers the current worldwide definition of antisemitism and what we can do today to stand up against it.

Photo: William Cooper and the Australian Aborigines’ League who protested Kristallnacht in 1938
Plenty of books to choose from in the Miller Collection. As a special, I will send a free copy (PDF) of the book of your choice to the first 3 readers who email me.

Left – Who were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil and where did it happen? Find out in “The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita: Quiros, Torres and Janszoon.” Check it out here.

Right – A first-hand account of the Holocaust from a Polish Jewish woman who faced death daily in “If I Survive.” Find out more here.

Newsletter Oct 2022

Hi all you wonderful readers – Well the year is advancing and I hope you’re getting through your to-do list and leaving yourself time out to read your favourite book or spend some time in nature or do whatever refreshes you.

Barbara Miller re her 2 memoirs – White Woman Black Heart and Secrets and Lies – brief interview

HOLOCAUST HANDBOOK FOR SCHOOLS & ADULTS ON THE HOLOCAUST & ANTISEMITISM

I have finished writing this project for a Jewish organisation and it is being edited. The graphic design work will begin soon. We are hoping that it will receive favour from curriculum bodies and teachers will use it. If anyone can help with this project, please let me know.

The photo is of a plaque outside the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre in Melbourne.

Brief Interview with author Barbara Miller re her books on William Cooper

BELOW COST SALE
WILLIAM COOPER GENTLE WARRIOR

Slashed from $29.95 to $7ea for September only.
Sales of 10 or more copies, the low price of $5 each
$12 Shipping for 1 copy. $2 extra for each additional copy. 
Email me for direct sales at bmiller@bigpond.com

Extended for October also. Order from
https://barbara-miller-books.com/

REEF AND RAINFOREST: AN ABORIGINAL VOICE THROUGH ART AND STORY

Munganbana’s work in creating this book is a perfect example of … connection to country. He has combined his personal, ancestral and spiritual experiences with a mix of traditional and contemporary art styles to help give us a greater understanding of the beauty, history and importance of the Reef.

Sheriden Morris, Managing Director
Reef and Rainforest Research Centre

LEARN MORE 

If I Survive: Nazi Germany and the Jews,100-Year-Old Lena Goldstein’s Miracle Story is available here

Re White Australia Has A Black History 
Read about up-to-date information on William Cooper and the people he mentored and how they changed Australian history

Re Shattered Lives Broken Dreams

The Nazis shatter glass and shatter the lives of European Jews at Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust. An Australian Aboriginal, William Cooper, leads the campaign for civil rights for his people who are dying of poverty and mistreatment around him. 1938; two worlds, far apart. Cut to the core after Kristallnacht, can he do anything to stop it?

FIND IT HERE

BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE

Title of Book – Gulpilil 
‘David is a gateway to a history that we’ve so far denied and not embraced. In this country, he’s more important than Ned Kelly.’ Jack Thompson

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that content inside this publication, contains images and the name of a person who has died. For cultural reasons, he is referred to as David Dalaithngu.

About the Author

David Gulpilil is a Yolngu man beloved around the world as a hunter, dancer, actor and artist. His preternatural acting in the films Walkabout, Storm Boy, Crocodile Dundee, The Tracker and Charlie’s Country – for which he won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes Film Festival and Best Actor at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in 2014 – has allowed Gulpilil to transmit the worlds of the First Australians to screens with unrivalled magic and melancholy, and made him an icon of cinema.

Learn More

White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, a Memoir

Oppressed Aborigines forced off their land at gunpoint. Over a decade later, one passionate young woman would take up their fight…


AVAILABLE HERE

Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Australian Aboriginal History, A Memoir (First Nations True Stories)

Barbara Russell, a young woman from a white working-class family. A ruthless Premier Bjelke-Petersen enforcing legal discrimination. How could Barbara stand by and watch the feud of the people with governments and miners strip Australian Aboriginal communities of all they held dear? But what could she do to make a difference?

CHECK IT OUT

My book Secrets and Lies is often no 1 best seller on Amazon Australia as an ebook in Discrimination Constitutional Law

My book Secrets and Lies is often no 1 best seller on Amazon Australia as an ebook in Discrimination Constitutional Law, Public Law and Civil Law – 3 categories. It is currently no 1 in the Sociology of Race Relations in Amazon US and White Australia Has A Black History was no 2 beside it a couple of days ago.

 

Left – A fun photo of me putting my hands on Munganbana Norman’s Big Boomerang recently.

Right – I was invited to Courage to Care’s first event in Brisbane 5 June 2014 and am beside the William Cooper exhibit.

 

Newsletter Dec 2021

Hi all you wonderful readers – We have enjoyed the Hanukkah celebrations ending nightfall of 6 Dec and Christmas will soon be upon us. For those who don’t celebrate these seasons, you will no doubt have holidays to look forward to with maybe some indulgent eating and gift-giving nonetheless. Don’t forget to take a book with you on your travels or stay-at-home break. God bless you and your family. I believe God has called me to write and I look forward to the book He has for me next.

Book Launch 7 Dec 12md AEDT Zoom

6 December 8pm New York time

Zoom ID 116 446 220 Passcode: 498888

You are invited to a zoom book launch of my book Secrets and Lies on Tuesday 7 December at 12md AEDT i.e. Sydney time and Monday night 6 December 8pm New York time.

Mayor of Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire, Ross Andrews, the Hon. Bob Katter, Federal MP, Native American podcaster Marina Maria, American Jewish author Irene Shaland, British editor Tony Crofts, Malaysian pastor Joy Tan, Cairns journalist & reviewer Christine Howes, Australian prayer leader Lilian Schmid and videographer David Jack will be sharing live with videos from authors in South Africa & Jordan. We may be joined by author Dr Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jnr. So it will be an interesting session. Tell your friends.

Reviews

This memoire, Secrets and Lies, tells the story of important events in the relationship between the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments and Aboriginal people on Aurukun and Mornington Island and their struggle to maintain control of their lives in the face of paternalism and racism. It does so from the perspective of the author, who had a unique opportunity to observe the events in which Aboriginal leaders participated and recount the conversations which occurred at meetings between community members and with politicians who played key roles in these events along with what was played out in the public arena and recorded in the media.

It paints an intimate picture of the individuals involved and brings to life the impact which actions of Government have had upon them at a personal and structural level. It provides a detailed insight into how a grass-roots activist organisation, the North Queensland Land Council, with a charismatic leader, Mick Miller, was able to operate in a regional, State, national and international arena in its advocacy of self-determination for Aboriginal people.

It traces the history of on-going advocacy of the author for Aboriginal people and the challenges they face through various changes of direction in her personal life. It is a unique and valuable record of the observations and participation of the author in activism which has as its unwavering focus a dedication to the cause of social justice for Indigenous people.

Greg McIntyre SC, Barrister, Michael Kirby Chambers Perth, Lawyer for the Mabo Case

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 in an interest, 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

Special almost finished but it’s an honour to celebrate the anniversary of William Cooper again on 6 Dec. Kristallnacht To Cooper Protest Special 9 Nov – 6 Dec

To commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht or the Night of the Broken Glass and the response by Australian Aboriginal William Cooper in leading the Australian Aborigines’ League on one of the few private protests worldwide against Kristallnacht, I have a $10 discount on my William Cooper Gentle Warrior book with free shipping in Australia. 

Shattered Lives Broken Dreams is available from Amazon as well as my website but William Cooper Gentle Warrior is only available from my website and is not available as an ebook.

Question – What is on your reading list for the upcoming holiday? Let me know via email