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
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
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
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?
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.
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?
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.
Hi all you wonderful readers – I hope that even if you are busy, you are able to have a little time out to read to refresh you and stimulate you. If you have a favourite book, please tell me about it. Also, what book would you recommend to readers?
NEW WRITING PROJECT FOR SCHOOLS & ADULTS ON THE HOLOCAUST
Holocaust education is important when there is so much Holocaust denial and distortion out there. Also, this study looks at the causes of antisemitism and what we can do about it. It is suitable for upper primary school and adults and I hope it will be used overseas as well as in Australia. Negotiations of course need to be held with curriculum developers. More information coming out soon.
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 here
THE BIG BOOMERANG – THE NEXT BIG THING!
Munganbana Norman says – I have a dream of having a Big Boomerang icon for Cairns. To get some community support and publicity, I made a very big boomerang and put it on a float in the Cairns Festival Parade last weekend. Recently, it got some coverage in The Cairns Post and ABC radio Cairns will cover it soon. I hope that this project will get the support of Cairns, especially as it would be the only big icon in Australia expressing Aboriginal heritage.
It has been on my heart since 2017 to have a Big Boomerang icon for Cairns as then I wanted to get a Big Boomerang beside the Capt Cook statue as an act of reconciliation and to showcase our Indigenous heritage. However, the owner was not interested. Recently, James Cook University bought the site on which the statue stood and sold the statue to someone in a nearby town. It was not removed because of cancel culture. Now the Capt Cook statue, which was in the list of Australia’s big icons, has been removed from Cairns, it is important, as a tourist city, that we get another big icon.
So my boomerang is the next big thing. It is 5.5m wide and about 3m high. Either this boomerang or one the city comes together to build, could be it. It is housed in my Munganbana Reef and Rainforest Aboriginal Art Gallery in 33 Lake St Cairns since the Cairns Festival Parade. It is important because in all the big icons around the nation, none represents Aboriginal heritage. Indigenous tourism is a big draw card for Far North Qld.
I am hoping that the people of Cairns, the council, the Qld and federal governments, businesses, and of course our First Nations People will be excited and get behind this project. I have the support of traditional owners. We need to get a committee together to work on this project of the Next Big Thing or the Big Boomerang as the big icon for Cairns.
Many Australian towns have big icons – https://www.australianexplorer.com/australian_big_icons.htm – the Big Gumboot, the Big Pineapple, the Big Banana, the Big Prawn etc. Now we need the Big Boomerang. I think it will showcase Cairns and draw visitors to our wonderful city. We need cultural tourism and we need tourists to COME BACK to our tourist paradise.
WATCH THIS SPACE AS A BOOK ABOUT MUNGANBANA’S JOURNEY WITH BOOMERANGS WILL COME OUT IN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS OR SO!!
IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN AUSTRALIA DAY AND NATIONAL ABORIGINES AND ISLANDERS WEEK (NAIDOC)?
NEW OUTLET
Some of my books are now available in the beautiful Blue Mountains amongst an amazing collection of books by Indigenous writers, including children’s books. The Wiradjuri nation have an outlet in Leura and stock beautiful art as well as literature. See – https://bilingarra.com.au/collections/books-1?page=2
REEF AND RAINFOREST: AN ABORIGINAL VOICE THROUGH ART AND STORY
Now recognised among the foremost talents of this region’s outstanding Indigenous artists, Munganbana’s “Reef and Rainforest: An Aboriginal Voice Through Art and Story” is representative of the body of visual art, in a variety of media and styles, created over a period of twenty-five years. Henrietta Marrie, Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Elder and Traditional Owner of Gimuy-Cairns LEARN MORE
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 here
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
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
We Pay Tribute to Archie Roach Who Passed Away Recently and Left His Mark on the Hearts of Australians
Title of Book – Tell Me Why Review from Amazon
‘Archie’s deeply resonant voice sings out – of a broken country and a life renewed. The voice of Australia.’ — Daniel Browning, ABC journalist and producer
‘Just like his early songs, Tell Me Why was written with empathy as its impetus and that intent shines through on every page. This is a phenomenal work by one of the most articulate and recognisable members of the Stolen Generations. It will be read, studied and discussed for many years to come.’ ― The Australian
‘Beautiful, gut-wrenching and compelling memoir’ ― Sydney Morning Herald
‘Roach is honest and humble in his oft-heartbreaking retelling of his search for identity, belonging and purpose’ ― Courier Mail
‘Best book of 2019: Tell Me Why by Archie Roach, a beautifully written autobiography that captures one of the most remarkable lives in Australian music’ ― Weekend Australian
‘Tell Me Why is an extraordinary odyssey and offering. Archie has come through snares, pits and suffering to bring us an inspiring tale of survival, grace and generosity. This book should be in every school.’ — Paul Kelly –This text refers to the paperback edition.
About the Author
Archie Roach AM, a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung man, was born in Victoria in 1956. Taken at the age of two from parents he never saw again, he was placed into foster care. He started writing songs after meeting his soulmate Ruby Hunter when they were both homeless teenagers. His heartbreaking signature song, ‘Took the Children Away’, from his 1990 ARIA award-winning debut album Charcoal Lane, has become an anthem for the Stolen Generations. The song was the first to win an Australian Human Rights Award and the album was featured in US Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 50 in 1992, won two ARIA awards and went gold in Australia. Archie’s recording history includes twelve albums, soundtracks, film and theatrical scores and his books include the award-winning memoir Tell Me Why, accompanied by a companion album, and the picture book Took the Children Away, illustrated by Ruby Hunter.
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?
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.
Announcement My new book Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth About Recent Aboriginal History, A Memoir, is available for pre-order on Amazon for the special price of 99c US as an ebook. It will be launched on 3 July and will stay at 99c for a few more days. The print book will be available shortly after. Here is the link – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095SDW3LY
I would love some reviews on Amazon please and for you to share about it on social media. It has had a lot of pre-orders already and so has been no 1 new release in a lot of categories – Civil Law, Public Law, Constitutional Law Discrimination, International Treaties, Sociology of Race Relations, Civil Rights, Australian and NZ History, Australian and Oceanian Politics, Study and Teaching and Education Reference.
This review came in today from Self Publishing 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.
Norman made a large hand for me to promote my book and I am standing with it in his art gallery.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
This recent book by NSW Senator Andrew Bragg may be a gamechanger for Liberal party attitudes to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the possibility of the enshrinement of an Indigenous Voice in the Australian constitution. Here is and excerpt from his speech to the Sydney Institue.
Buraadja: The liberal case for national reconciliation
by Andrew Bragg
The title of this book is “tomorrow” in the Dhurga language of the Yuin people – Buraadja is about the type of country we want to be tomorrow.
The question is, why write a book on the history of liberalism and Indigenous affairs?
The answer is that the issues facing Indigenous people are serious and often intractable and there is a question mark over the nation whilstever we live with “the gap”.
I believe “the gap” is the modern consequence of the “Great Australian Silence” coined to describe the nation’s blind spot on Indigenous matters by anthropologist Bill Stanner in 1968.
As I said in my First Speech to the Senate, it is the nation’s unfinished business.
Put simply, Australia is a great country but it has not generally been a great country for Indigenous people.
What I wanted to do tonight was set out the key liberal arguments for delivering on the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Before I do that, I must acknowledge the support of my colleagues for this project. It’s important that people know the Liberal Party is still the big tent. I have been encouraged even by people who don’t agree with this agenda to write.
The book has a generous foreword from the Prime Minister who said:
“… for over two centuries we have perpetuated and suffered from an ingrained way of thinking, and that is the belief we know better than our Indigenous peoples. We don’t. We also thought we understood the problems facing Indigenous Australians better than they did. We don’t.”
Prime Minister Morrison is developing a strong record on Indigenous affairs which builds upon Harold Holt’s and Malcolm Fraser’s significant record.
Innovation and leadership on Indigenous affairs has been a thread of Australian liberalism. It has always been there. Indeed, Billy Wentworth was effectively arguing for a voice to parliament in the 1960s.
His contemporaries like former Liberal Party director Tony Eggleton told me Wentworth influenced Harold Holt.
Harold Holt delivered the historic 1967 referendum to arm the national government with power to legislate for Indigenous people and to be included in the census.
Sadly too many of us remember him for his death, not for this achievement which his predecessor (and probably his successor) was not prepared to provide.
Had he not disappeared, I believe our collective memory would place the referendum at the top of the Holt recollection pile. Scant detail exists on Holt, he never wrote his memoirs and there is just one biography written by the brilliant Professor Tom Frame.
Malcolm Fraser delivered land rights laws which have led to the bulk of the Northern Territory now being under the control of the original owners.
The Fraser era was not an era of economic reform but it was impeccable on liberal values: a fair deal for Indigenous people and a strong humanitarian approach on Vietnam and South Africa.
The thread bloomed during this period. I interviewed all three Fraser Ministers for Aboriginal affairs – Ian Viner, Peter Baume and Fred Chaney. They all say that Fraser was instrumental in delivering land rights in the face of enormous opposition from the pastoral and mining sector and the Northern Territory Government.
Yet the nation remembers Gough Whitlam pouring the red dirt into the hands of Vincent Lingiari. We don’t give Fraser enough credit for forcing through the first Land Rights system in Australia.
The renowned Indigenous leader Charles Perkins described Malcolm Fraser as the best leader on Indigenous affairs in his lifetime. He said Fraser was “A1”.
Our Prime Minister Scott Morrison has presided over the radical overhaul of the closing the gap targets in collaboration with the Coalition of the Peaks. I am sure this will be a historically significant contribution.
The PM has ensured this critical reform agenda designed to boost education, health and economic participation is now “co-designed” with the appropriate input from the community itself.
He kept his commitment and funded the Voice co-design process which is underway through Ken Wyatt’s department. We are pursuing a Voice and we maintain our commitment to constitutional recognition.
He has also changed the anthem. Australia’s greatest sporting champion Cathy Freeman said:
“What a way to start the year!!! A phone call from our Prime Minister to say that we are “One and Free”! Thank you!!!”
The process of writing this book has also brought out comments from other leaders.
Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt said: “It is a contribution and a call to action for us all. And this is what we need to help not only progress on reconciliation but the debate around recognition..”
We commemorate NAIDOC Week or National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee from 4-11 July. It is fitting then to remember Aboriginal Christian William Cooper who convinced the churches in the 1930’s to commemorate Aboriginal Sunday. This became National Aborigines Day and has been transformed to NAIDOC so William Cooper is rightfully recognized as the Father of NAIDOC.
REVIEW FEATURE
Authors depend on reviews so I help other authors out with reviews when I can so I have decided to feature a few occasionally in case you’re interested. They are usually inexpensive and quick to read as ebooks on amazon.
Bold, Brave & Brilliant: 12 life lessons to cultivate mental strength and emotional resilience by Emma Loveday
While I didn’t agree with everything, there is a huge amount of useful information in this book from a writer who had social anxiety for 15 years and has successfully come out the other end to be able to help others. Each chapter starts with one of Emma’s colourful drawings which has helped her. Her key points are not to avoid pain in life which is inevitable and not to avoid failure because you can learn from your mistakes. She describes herself as the Queen of Trying. She talks about resilience and tolerating hardship, challenging your negative thoughts, not being a perfectionist, dealing with heartbreak, being vulnerable and adaptable and removing emotional roadblocks. She says everything worth fighting for involves a struggle and we need to prioritize so we are not overwhelmed. Much good advice. Reviewed by B Miller 17 May 21 https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B094XTXPHY/
Blame It On ‘Nam – How Education Became Indoctrination and what You can do about it: Become a critical thinking decision maker and advocate by Thomas Rowley, PhD
The author discusses the failure of the public education system in the USA to educate students in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As an educator, he speaks from first-hand experience. He believes that the Vietnam War is one of the reasons for this. I won’t spoil your read by saying why. He is worried that many students and leaders in government, industry and education won’t listen to arguments that challenge their points of view. He discusses the effects of the pandemic and generational issues and is concerned re illiberalism. He recommends a plan of action and advocacy to deal with the issues raised. Reviewed by B Miller 20 June 21 https://www.amazon.com/Blame-Nam-Education-Indoctrination-critical-ebook/dp/B0971KXDJ3/
Farmers or Hunter-gatherers?
The Dark Emu Debate
Peter Sutton, Keryn Walshe
An authoritative study of pre-colonial Australia that dismantles and reframes popular narratives of First Nations land management and food production – Melbourne University Press.
My comment – Australians who have an eye on the media will know that Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu that came out in 2014 has sold half a million copies, won him some literary prizes, led to a number of children’s books and study books for schools, led to a university professorship and generally made him famous. There has been little criticism until recently and now a new book by Sutton and Walshe has come out to specifically refute its argument that Australian Aborigines lived in villages of up to 1,000 people and were farmers not hunter-gatherers. There have also been doubts raised about his Aboriginality by others.
I read Dark Emu last year so have not refreshed myself on it. However, I thought at the time that the arguments were flimsy and stretched the point a lot. I have not read Sutton and Walshe’s book but know of Sutton’s good standing for his anthropological work at Aurukun in North Queensland.
Re Bruce Pascoe’s Aboriginality, just because someone is fair, does not mean they have no Aboriginal heritage. The long-accepted definition of an Aboriginal in Australia is someone who identifies as Aboriginal and is accepted as such by their community. So it is a personal plus community matter. I oppose any suggestion of having a national register of who is an Aboriginal. I don’t want to go back to the days of the late 1970’s in Queensland where the Bjelke-Petersen government wanted the government to define who is an Aboriginal.
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/
White Australia Has A Black History: William Cooper and First Nations Peoples’ Political Activism – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X1MYCDX/
William Cooper Gentle Warrior and The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita:Quiros Torres and Janszoon – www.barbara-miller-books.com
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
Councillor Eric Koo oila and Chairman Donald Peinkinna of Aurukun in 1978 when the Qld government threatened to throw the Uniting Church out and take over the remote Aboriginal community.
Norman Miller at the Cairns Festival 2018 where he walked in the parade with the giant boomerang he made with the 3 points of the Uluru Statement from the Heart – Voice Treaty Truth.
My book Secrets and Liesstarts 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
