Tag: History

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter May 2024 


As always, it’s such a pleasure to connect with you through our monthly newsletter.

 First, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to you for being a part of our community. Your support means the world to me, and it’s what keeps me inspired to delve deeper into the realms of Australian Aboriginal history, the Holocaust, and beyond.

What books have you been reading lately? What do you prefer, novels, nonfiction, newspapers, magazines or journals? I must admit, I’m addicted to newspapers and still like the feel of paper in my hands. When I want a quick read of a book and can’t wait for it to be posted, I select an eBook from amazon. What about you? What topics are like a magnet for you?

Have You Read These Lesser-Known Australian Tales?

I wanted to take a moment to reconnect and share some hidden gems from my collection of books that delve into the rich tapestry of Australian history, particularly focusing on Indigenous affairs.

Many of you know my passion for bringing these stories to life. But with 12 books under my belt, it can be hard to know where to start!

This month, I want to highlight a few lesser-known titles that might pique your interest:

Voice Treaty Truth: Has the Christian Voice Been Heard?

Even though this was a hot topic prior to the referendum late last year, it is a continuing issue with South Australia having set up its own voice and other state governments continuing with treaty and truth telling. While the Christian view is covered in this book, it also covers the main arguments of supporters and opponents of the Voice.

This book explores key issues. What is happening in Australian race relations is a mirror of what is happening in the Western world. Australia is currently divided 60/40 over a recent referendum to enshrine an Indigenous representative body in the constitution which would be a Voice to parliament and the executive government. There was pushback about creating a race-based body in the constitution and the inequality of having two classes of citizens. This is likely to continue with division over the need for a treaty and debating about the truth of Australia’s history. This book, Voice Treaty Truth, examines both sides of the argument in a passionate and balanced way and looks at the issues from political, historical, and spiritual viewpoints.

In this book, Barbara Miller, a pastor, sociologist, and historian, offers an insightful Christian response to the Uluru Statement From the Heart. She shares her 50 years of experience as an activist and researcher in First Nations affairs to help readers understand this debate which is potentially nation-changing.

If I Survive – Interview with Holocaust Survivor Lena Goldstein
by Author Barbara Miller

See https://barbara-miller-books.com/ for her full story in the book “If I Survive: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 100-Year Old Lena Goldstein’s Miracle Story.” Lena passed away in her sleep Tuesday night, 14 May 2019. The timing was not lost on me – the anniversary of the rebirth of the state of Israel. This video was uploaded overnight 13 May 2024 in her honour.

For better sound, see this video in my instagram account and subscribe https://www.instagram.com/barbaramiller8917/

Unveiling the Stories That Shaped Australia, Myself and Maybe You

In Secrets and Lies: the Shocking Truth of Recent Australian Aboriginal History, A Memoir, I weave together memoir and historical research to tell the story of First Nations Australians. It is not a story of the past but current events and recent history.

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.

Would her passion make a way for her? 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. If the Aboriginal people fail, more of them will die in poverty and desperation.

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.
These books offer unique perspectives and I truly believe they’ll resonate with anyone fascinated by Australia’s past.

 Looking for something different? Don’t forget I also delve into topics like the Holocaust and Christian themes in some of my other works.

Browse my full collection at https://barbara-miller-books.com/latest-books/

 Click on the titles above to learn more about these books, or visit my website to discover your next captivating read!
 
Happy reading,

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 – www.barbara-miller-books.com.

Happy reading!!

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter December no 1 2023

Nothing like a good book to read! What do you like to read-  fiction or non-fiction? I mostly like non-fiction with a strong interest in current affairs and history. Hence I like to stay in touch with the daily news. Still, I like to dig into the history behind the news as well – to understand the context. 

Book library snug cozy

Which reading space do you like the best? I’m afraid I might go to sleep if I pick the second one. It looks too too comfortable. 

Hamza
4.0 out of 5 stars Neutral perspective on critical issues…
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2023
Verified Purchase

Barbara Miller’s book “Voice Treaty Truth” offers a comprehensive guide to understanding the Voice to Parliament and government referendum. Drawing on their extensive experience in First Nations affairs, the writer provides valuable insights into the complexities of this crucial issue. The book presents a balanced evaluation of arguments from both sides from a neutral perspective and the author does ever so well to shed light on the role of different social factors such as inequality in the said debate. The book serves as an informative resource for readers seeking clarity on this significant topic, offering potential avenues towards overall unity in Australia.

Find it HERE

BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE
See this in the next newsletter

shattered lives broken dreams

FIND THESE WILLIAM COOPER BOOKS WHCH GO TOGETHER-  HERE

FIND THESE MEMOIRS 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 – https://barbara-miller-books.com

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.

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 

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter November 2023 

Voice Treaty Truth: Has the Christian Voice Been Heard? Book Trailer

DISCOUNT ON VOICE TREATY TRUTH EBOOK

I  have a 5-day 99c USD promotion on Amazon from 7 November 8am PST or  8 November 1am Brisbane time. I would love a review.

Race relations in Australia has become more divisive. Is reconciliation dead? Activist and pastor explores the issues not just facing Australia but the West generally.

Australia is currently divided 60/40 over a referendum that has just been held to enshrine an Indigenous representative body in the constitution. There was pushback into creating a race-based body in the constitution and having two classes of citizens. This is likely to continue with division over the need for a treaty and debating about the truth of Australia’s history. This book, Voice Treaty Truth, examines all the issues from political, historical, and spiritual viewpoint.

Amazon AU link:

Amazon US link:

Left – William Cooper. Right – the Miller family meeting with Israel Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon when he spoke recently at a function in Cairns along with Norman and Barbara Miller of Indigenous Friends of Israel.

WHERE ARE TODAY’S WILLIAM COOPERS?
FREE RESOURCE AVAILABLE

Aboriginal leader, William Cooper, led the Australian Aborigines’ League in a protest to the German Consulate in Melbourne against Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust or Shoah in 1938. Where are today’s William Coopers? The Indigenous Friends of Israel is continuing his legacy. See more

You can do something too. If you want to lead a group in your home, workplace, place of worship or social group learning how to deal with antisemitism today and find out more about the Holocaust, then there is a free resource available. If you don’t want to lead it yourself, you can put this resource in the hands of someone who can and is willing to. It is a resource I wrote at the request of Eli Rabinowitz of the WE ARE HERE! Foundation. 

HANDBOOK – THE HOLOCAUST AND THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL RESPONSE

To receive your free version, please complete the form.

The author Barbara Miller would like to thank Eli Rabinowitz, founder of the WE ARE HERE! Foundation and Gabriele Maluga, the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Western Australia for initiating and sponsoring this handbook which can be used for upper secondary students and adult education in Australia and internationally.

We also acknowledge the support of Yad Vashem Photo Archives Jerusalem.

V.E.
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023
Verified Purchase
In “Voice Treaty Truth,” Barbara Miller delves into the impending Australian referendum concerning the Voice to Parliament, alongside the profound legacy of colonialism on First Nations communities. If this is a new issue to you, this is a great book to become more educated on this tenuous subject. Drawing on her wealth of experience as an activist and researcher, Miller offers a Christian point of view, looking at how religion, racism, and inequality come into play. The book is quite detailed and is a balanced evaluation of arguments on both sides of the referendum while offering real ideas for unity in Australia. With extensive research and insightful information, this book is an indispensable resource for individuals seeking a well-informed perspective on this important problem.

BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE
See this in the next newsletter

White Australia Has A Black History Book
shattered lives broken dreams

FIND THESE WILLIAM COOPER BOOKS WHCH GO TOGETHER- HERE

FIND THESE MEMOIRS 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 – www.barbara-miller-books.com

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.

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 

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter July-August 2023 

Book library snug cozy


Which reading space would you choose?

BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE

A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles
By Thomas Sowell (a famous black American economist)

Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. In this book, which the author calls a “culmination of thirty years of work in the history of ideas,” Sowell attempts to explain the ideological difference between liberals and conservatives as a disagreement over the moral potential inherent in nature.

Those who see that potential as limited prefer to constrain governmental authority, he argues. They feel that reform is difficult and often dangerous, and they put their faith in family, custom, law, and traditional institutions. Conversely, those who have faith in human nature prefer to remove institutional and traditional constraints. Controversies over such diverse issues as criminal justice, income distribution, or war and peace repeatedly show an ideological divide along the lines of these two conflicting visions. Get book HERE

Daughter of the River Country
by Dianne O’Brien & Sue Williams
(Dianne is William Cooper’s great-granddaughter)

A heartbreaking, redemptive memoir of raw power, Daughter of the River Country is the story of an extraordinary journey from a childhood as one of Australia’s Stolen Generation to Aboriginal Elder

Born in rural Australia in the 1940s, baby Dianne is immediately taken from her parents and placed with a white family. Raised in an era of widespread racism, she grows up believing her Irish adoptive mother is her birth mother.

When her adoptive mother tragically dies and she is abandoned by her adoptive father, Dianne is raped, sent to the brutal Parramatta Girls Home and forced to marry her rapist in order to keep her baby. After suffering years of domestic abuse, but refusing to let her spirit be broken, Dianne finally discovers she is a Yorta Yorta woman, a daughter of the river country, and is reunited with her birth mother. She learns that her great-grandfather was a famous Aboriginal activist and from here she becomes a powerful leader in her own right, vowing to help others in any way she can.

Daughter of the River Country explores for the first time the devastation caused to Australia’s Aboriginal Stolen Generation, who were forcibly placed with white families as part of a government assimilation programme.

‘A compelling memoir about the power of love and staying the course.’ LINDA BURNEY, the first Aboriginal Member of Australia’s House of Representatives.
Find it HERE

REQUEST A FREE HANDBOOK ON THE HOLOCAUST AND THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL RESPONSE WRITTEN BY BARBARA MILLER & PUBLISHED BY ELI RABINOWITZ OF THE WE ARE HERE FOUNDATION

This contains educational modules with videos and activities and is suitable for high school students, tertiary education and adult education. It also contains antisemitism education. It is highly suitable for the Australian context using examples from the life of Aboriginal William Cooper and the Australian Aborigines’ League. It is a highly engaging and free resource on a difficult topic and is highly relevant today. Get it HERE

Fun Facts About Books! 

The largest collection consists of 1.5 million books!

According to the Guinness World Records, the largest privately owned collection of books is a massive 1.5 million.

They are owned by John Q. Benham who lives in Indiana in the USA.

He has to keep them in lots of different places because he doesn’t have enough space in his house.

They are in the garage, in his two-storey building and even outside!

If you read 20 minutes a day, you would have read 1.8 million words in a year

All it takes is 20 minutes a day.

If you read for this long every day for a year, then you would have read 1.8 million words.

You will be like a human dictionary!

You can read books in many different ways including e-books & audiobooks!

There used to be a time where we only had books to read.

Lucky for us, we can access them in lots of different ways now.

Whether it’s online, an e-book or even an audiobook there are lots of ways to access your favourite stories.

The person who draws pictures in books is called an illustrator.

Take a look at your books and they will say “Illustrated by…”.

The illustrator is the person who draws all the pictures in the book.

Books don’t always have to have one illustrator, there can be multiple.

If you love art then you might like to work as an illustrator when you are older!

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.

We need to thank Johannes Gutenberg for the books we have today.

He invented the printing press, which prints words on to paper.

This was in 1440.

It meant that thousands of books could be produced very quickly!

Send us your favourite facts! Above facts are from:

Top 10 Facts About Books!

Sometimes you just want a book that’ll give you a laugh!
Must admit my books are a bit serious but very interesting!

White Australia Has A Black History Book
shattered lives broken dreams

FIND THESE WILLIAM COOPER BOOKS WHCH GO TOGETHER- HERE

FIND THESE MEMOIRS 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 – www.barbara-miller-books.com.

Happy reading!!

THE EUROPEAN QUEST TO FIND TERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA: Quiros, Torres and Janszoo

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 

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.

Barbara Miller Books Newsletter Jan-Feb 2023

L-R WE ARE HERE! Foundation – Dr Bill Allen, Prof Lynne Cohen, Eli and Jill Rabinowitz, based in Perth, Western Australia but working internationally

Handbook – The Holocaust and The Australian and Australian Aboriginal Responses  by Barbara Miller

Written by Barbara Miller at the request of Eli Rabinowitz of the WE ARE HERE! Foundation, this handbook is a resource for educators and teachers and for upper secondary students and adult education programs in Australia and internationally. The handbook focuses on Australia’s response to the events leading up to and during the Holocaust, and in particular the specific responses of Aboriginal political and social activist William Cooper and fellow members of the AAL.

This online handbook is free.  These online resources are offered free of charge to educators and students, as long as the source is credited.  To arrange your copy, or for more information, email: elirab@iinet.net.au  

WAH! Foundation chose Aboriginal  William Cooper as their ambassador, a fine example of the compassion of an Upstander. He was a prominent activist who set out against the odds to protest the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany, culminating in the tragedy of Kristalnacht in 1938.

Success is not always achieved overnight. William Cooper marched to the Melbourne German Consulate on 6 December 1938 to present his petition in support of Germany’s Jews. His petition was not accepted. This deed was only fully recognised by the German government in 2017.

“Some say that William Cooper only performed one act of solidarity in protesting  the Germans’ cruel treatment of the Jews. However, I sense that he has become more than a Christian Aboriginal upstander. He has become a symbol of the bond between Jews and Aborigines which was formed through his protest and which has deepened with the commemoration of his actions.” Barbara Miller, biographer.

The Handbook was launched at Southern Cross Alliance for Israel (SCAFI) zoom meeting in time for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January 2023. We acknowledge the support of the German Consulate in Perth for this project as well as the WAH! Foundation.

William Cooper statue in Shepparton, Victoria.
He is holding the letter of protest to Germany

To arrange your free copy, or for more information, email: elirab@iinet.net.au  

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. For a limited time and at the reduced price of $7 Au, 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

BOOK PUNS

Bookriot.com brings us the following – Book puns are not only good for a laugh or an eye roll. They’re great for libraries, for teachers, and for other book lovers who want to find clever, catchy ways to draw attention to books and reading. There’s a reason that book puns show up on fun t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs: readers can’t get enough.

  1. Tequila Mockingbird.
  2. Never read Fitzgerald? You Gatsby kidding me!
  3. “Never mind” —a passive-aggressive Raven.
  4. Dystopian novels are so 1984.
  5. But first, Kafka.
  6. Why is John Milton a terrible guest at game nights? Because when he’s around, there’s a pair of dice lost.
  7. What do you call 2000 mockingbirds? Two-kilo mockingbird.
  8. Brontë? What a breath of fresh Eyre.
  9. Forever Jung.
  10. You’re nothing but a Wilde thing.
    Munganbana Norman Miller Rainforest print collection four panels

    Who wants some stunning (and Free!) rainforest art? 
    I’m giving away a complimentary physical art print of my latest Collection, the Rainforest Collection, to anyone who wants one (Yes even you!)
     
    The perfect art to bring the colour green, known for symbolizing life, renewal, nature, energy, and healing to your special space!
     
    Go choose a free print of the 4 available here before the offer ends  https://www.artprintsbymunganbana.com/

    Plenty of books to choose from in the Miller Collection. As a special, I will send a free copy (PDF or ebook) of the book of your choice to the first 5 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 August 2022

    Hi all you wonderful readers – May you find time to relax and read in the busy lives many of us lead. Whose interesting life story have you read lateley? Reading biography can give us wonderful insights into the lives of others, seeing them go through their challenges and seeing the inspiring decisions they have made and journeys they have had.

    Do you have a favourite historical period or do you prefer current events? Reading history gives us a context for our lives and the lives of others and helps us have greater perspective on today and sense future possibilities. I am greatly interested in both history and current events!! As others have said, if we don’t learn from our mistakes, we are likely to repeat them.

    Yarrabah Statement in Support of Uluru Statement From the Heart by Megan Davis 10.4.22 and Garma Festival

    The Garma Festival has been a media highlight in the last couple of days and a time of great celebration for the Yolngu and other Aboriginal people of Australia. It is a yearly time of displaying and enjoying Aboriginal culture through dance, story and song. It is also a time of serious discussions about current issues affecting First Nations people in Australia and Prime Ministers often attend. New Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese did just that and announced that a referendum will go ahead in this term of Parliament to ask the Australian people if they would change the constitution to include a First Nations voice to Parliament. There are prominent First Nations leaders supporting and not supporting it. What we have in this video is one of the architects of the Uluru Statement, Aboriginal lawyer Megan Davis speaking at Yarrabah Aboriginal community near Cairns. My husband Norman and I were invited to attend by the mayor of Yarrabah, Ross Andrews. The team working on the Voice from around Australia met in Cairns and then in Yarrabah in April. One of the reasons for this was to honour Alf Neal and the Yarrabah community for their tremendous support of the 1967 referendum which enabled First Nations people to be counted in the census. 

    As the referendum for the Voice will be the first referendum for First Nations people held since the successful 1967 one, it was considered an important symbolic act to have the Voice referendum on the anniversary of the 1967 referendum victory. Hence the statement from Yarrabah that Megan Davis read out and is recorded here declaring that the referendum should be held in May 2023.

    My book Secrets and Lies has a detailed discussion on Voice Treaty Truth and how we have got to our current situation. CHECK IT OUT HERE
     

    This is an excerpt from a recent interview I did regarding my books on Aboriginal leader William Cooper. I have written 3 – William Cooper Gentle Warrior (2012) White Australia Has A Black History (2019) and Shattered Lives Broken Dreams (2020) 

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

    William Cooper Gentle Warrior: Standing Up for Australian Aborigines and Persecuted Jews is available with FREE SHIPPING. Find it here.

    Re White Australia Has A Black History 

    Some say William Cooper was Australia’s Martin Luther King Jr. William Cooper saw his Aboriginal people dying around him and decided black lives matter. Starvation and discrimination took their toll. He became passionate that they should have a voice in Australia’s federal parliament.

    But his people could not vote and were not even counted in the census. How could he get the government to listen to him? Would his skills in oratory, letter-writing and organizing his people into the first national black organization achieve his goals or would his activism bring backlash?

    Betrayed by the Prime Minister who would not forward his petition to the King of England, Cooper joined with other leaders in Sydney for the 150th anniversary of white settlement and organized a protest called the Day of Mourning. This set in train the controversy that still surrounds Australia Day today. Cooper campaigned for the truth of the black history of white Australia to be told. He mentored future generations of leaders who are still calling for “voice, treaty, truth” today. This book covers the history of the struggle for First Nations peoples’ human rights from settlement to today.

    William Cooper was born in 1860 to his tribal mother who saw the first white settlers come to the Murray River. Learn more
    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?

    Described as Australia’s Martin Luther King, Cooper leads the Australian Aborigines’ League on a protest to the German Consulate in Melbourne. Would the Third Reich pour out its wrath on them? Would they make a difference?

    A Chair of Resistance to the Holocaust was named in honour of Cooper at Yad Vashem. His grandson, Alf Turner, becomes passionate about fulfilling his grandfather’s unfinished business and taking the protest to Berlin itself. How will he be received?

    This true story will inspire you to stand up and be counted and to make a difference.

    “Extensively researched and presented in a near novel-like manner” – Grady Harp Top Contributor: Children’s Books HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER

    “What will you like? Exceptionally interesting and astoundingly detail, including photos of many of the events that took place during the journey.” – DD GOTT – Donadees Corner
    FIND IT HERE

    BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE

    Dear Son: Letters and Reflections from First Nations Fathers and Sons
    By Thomas Mayor

    Dear Son shares heartfelt letters written by First Nations men about life, masculinity, love, culture and racism. Along with his own vivid and poignant prose and poetry, author and editor Thomas Mayor invites 12 contributors to write a letter to their son or father, bringing together a range of perspectives that offers the greatest celebration of First Nations manhood.

    This beautifully designed anthology comes at a time when First Nations peoples are starting to break free of derogatory stereotypes and find solace in their communities and cultures. Yet, each contributor also has one thing in common: they all have a relative who has been terribly wronged – enslaved, raped and dispossessed – because of their Aboriginality. 

    Featuring letters from Stan Grant, Troy Cassar-Daley, John Liddle, Charlie King, Joe Williams, Yessie Mosby, Joel Bayliss, Daniel James, Jack Latimore, Daniel Morrison, Tim Sculthorpe and Blak Douglas.

    A gentle and loving book for families from anywhere in the world. Artwork by proud Kaurna/Ngarrindjeri/Narrunga/Italian Australian artist Tony Wilson, with illustrations and design by Gamilaraay designer Tristan Schultz of Relative Creative.

    AVAILABLE HERE

    WHAT CAN I DO NOW THAT I HAVE A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
    By Patina Malinalli

    This book may not be relevant to you but you may know someone it will help as it is a survivor’s heartfelt story. She says:
     
    “Your traumatic brain injury will change your life forever – in so many ways.  There are some simple ways to compensate though faith in Jesus Christ.  When you have trouble accomplishing anything, hold on to Jesus – He is your Everything.  Through Him, you can find hope and still lead a productive lifestyle despite the hardships surrounding the situation that has changed your life.  Includes discussion questions.
     
    First, let me assure you I understand. I incurred a traumatic brain injury in 2005 and suffered some circumstances similar to what you are going through now.  However, you don’t have to be or feel incapacitated. You do have options.  Another effect of a traumatic brain injury is that time slows down.  It is easier not to feel rushed.  Whether it’s working from home, or finding hobbies to start enjoying yourself again, your life can still be fulfilling. Let me show you how.”
     

    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…

    Melbourne, 1970’s. Twenty-three-year-old university student Barbara Miller always stood her ground, even when it made her an outcast in her own family. So when she became a radical Christian advocate for social change, she didn’t think twice about joining the movement for Aboriginal justice. Boldly relocating to tropical Cape York and linking up with a Black activist and mentor on the frontline, she plunged into a life-changing battle despite the State’s threat of legal prosecution.

    In this powerful story of a people’s violent removal from their ancient land, Miller recounts how she joined a decade-long struggle to restore the Mapoon people to their beloved homeland. Working with a team of campaigners pushing against a hostile administration, she lands in the center of the explosive political climate of the Seventies. But by following her heart, the unexpected happens: She finds her true home and family in the most unlikely of places.

    White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon is an eye-opening memoir that showcases critical events in Australian history. If you like cross-cultural relationships, real-life activism, and rising up against colonialism, then you’ll love Barbara Miller’s gripping story of fundamental human rights.

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

    My book is a bestseller in the Discrimination Law category on Amazon Australia 

    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?

    Would her passion make a way for her? Was she strong enough to face the full weight of the police state, resist the temptation of love, and stand up to her family too?

    In this story of ideological conflict and racial discrimination laws, Barbara teams up with Mick, an Aboriginal schoolteacher. They organize 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 uses all in his powers in this police state to stop them. The strength of the Aboriginal people shines through the story but, if the Aboriginal people fail, more of them will die in poverty and desperation.

    What price will the church pay for standing with Aboriginals against the government? Can they win this epic battle? Can the Aboriginals internationalize their struggle for human rights?

    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 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 people who took to the trenches.

    What secrets lie hidden? What lies are being told?

    Historical memoir, Secrets and Lies is another sizzling story in the First Nations True Stories series. Because 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.

    CHECK IT OUT

    Left – Barbara holding an early copy of the Dying Days of Segregation in Australia: Case Study Yarrabah. I was privileged to be asked by the Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council to write a piece on the history of the leaders of Yarrabah for the new Council building opening. As I have had a long association with these leaders, it was something that aligned with my passion to tell their story.

    Right – Barbara on the Duyfken boat replica in Perth at an earlier launch of her book The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita: Quiros Torres and Janszoon. Both books are available from her website www.barbara-miller-books.com

    Newsletter July 2022

    Hi all you wonderful readers – May you find time to relax and read in the busy lives many of us lead. Reading biography can give us wonderful insights into the lives of others, seeing them go through their challenges and seeing the inspiring decisions and journeys they have had.

    Reading history gives us a context for our lives and the lives of others and helps us have greater perspective on today and sense future possibilities. 

    FREE PRINT OF THE COVER OF DYING DAYS OF SEGREGATION IN AUSTRALIA. i.e. THE ACTUAL PAINTING WITHOUT THE TEXT. IT’S CALLED DREAMS AND VISIONS AND IS WORTH $80. SEE www.munganbana.com.au for more information on it. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET IT? BUY A COPY OF THE BOOK FROM MY WEBSITE VIA GUMROAD AND I’LL MAKE SURE THE PRINT COMES WITH IT. HERE IS THE LINK https://barbara-miller-books.com/store/#dying-book. AS THE BOOK IS $24.99, THIS IS A GREAT DEAL!! 

    DREAMS AND VISIONS

    By Munganbana Norman Miller

    This black and white print shows me thinking, dreaming, imagining, looking at the possibilities before me. I am musing, creating what might be. It is as if the circles are bubbles of thought and above them to the top left there are rivers of possibilities, stepping stones to the fulfilment of my dreams. On the right are vine leaves I can climb up into the future, the rainforest holding its treasures for me to find.


    Amazon Review

    The Dying Days of Segregation in Australia: Case Study Yarrabah (First Nations True Stories)
    LitPick Book Reviews
    Inspirational and an insightful look into Australian history
    Format : Paperback

    To most people in the United States, the word “segregation” will conjure up images of whites-only drinking fountains or, if being optimistic, the late leader Nelson Mandela. But this abhorrent situation of separating the races was not wholly unique to South Africa or post-Civil War America. In Australia, Aboriginal peoples suffered apartheid-like conditions that prevented full freedom, happiness, and social mobility.

    The Dying Days of Segregation in Australia wastes no time letting readers know about the recently removed, yet vastly underreported, institutional barriers to equality. One man’s anecdote tells of a childhood spent sitting in the hard, uncomfortable seats in the back of a movie theater, since the soft canvas chairs in the front were only for white patrons. As if that wasn’t upsetting enough, his story takes a dark turn — even in the hospital, all of the white patients had to be seen first. It is clear that racism, especially when endorsed by the government, is a matter of life or death.

    Author Barbara Miller’s clear historical approach, peppered with deeply emotional stories of the best and worst of mankind, is sure to appeal to people who want to better understand the complex, disturbing nature of racial hierarchies …

    IT IS NAIDOC WEEK AND WILLIAM COOPER IS THE FATHER OF NAIDOC SO WHAT BETTER TIME THAN TO READ A BOOK ABOUT HIM.

    White Australia Has A Black History talks about his work for the “uplift” as he called it, for Aboriginal Australians. National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee came about because a committed Aboriginal Christian named William Cooper persuaded the churches to institute Aboriginal Sunday which later became Aborigines Day, a secular observance and later NAIDOC week.

    He got the National Missionary Council to promote an annual Aboriginal Sunday, the first of which was on 28 Jan 1940. Aboriginal Sunday, as a national day of observance for Aboriginal people ran from 1940 to 1954, being held the Sunday before Australia Day.

    In 1955, the date changed to the first Sunday in July and became known as National Aborigines Day. In 1957, the National Aborigines Day Observance Committee (NADOC) was formed whose goal was to promote awareness of Aboriginal people, their cultures and their plight. In 1989, the title changed to NAIDOC Week to include Torres Strait Islanders in the national celebrations.

    Join in your local celebrations and read about him here

    William Cooper Gentle Warrior is available with FREE SHIPPING. Find it here.

    William Cooper led the Australian Aborigines’ League on a protest march to the German Consulate in Melbourne against Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust, in 1938 even though Aboriginals were not citizens of Australia. 

    Amazon Review

    Shattered Lives Broken Dreams: William Cooper and Australian Aborigines Protest Holocaust (First Nations True Stories)
    PAR
    This novel may just change your life!
    November 22, 2021
    Format : Paperback | Verified Purchase

    As an member of a multicultural family I cannot tell you how your story came so close the my heart. I read and learned the history of your country and who William Cooper was and how he fought for the rights of all. This is a history that I did not know. Ms. Miller you presented it in a manner that was easy to read, and from what I read of all the acolytes that I were on the Amazon page everyone talked about the life long journey you took to assure that the story was told correctly. I would like to thank you for this work that you have done, and for sharing that work with the rest of the world. It shows that people will listen. That changes can be made. It takes a few of to stand up, to share, to educate a few others, and they tell others and it grows. I was so blessed the day that I received your novel. I highly recommend it to others.

     

    White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, a Memoir
    Amazon ReviewWhite Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon, A Memoir (First Nations True Stories)
    Kindle Customer
    Born of another race
    October 9, 2021
    Format : Paperback | Verified Purchase
    Story of the aboriginal people of Australia as experienced by a white woman. Barbara Miller was raised by a typical Australian couple. Somehow though their attitudes and prejudices did not take root in her. Instead she became a champion for the rights and reparations due the Aboriginal people. She spent her life helping them legally establish those rights. She also married into that group.Check it out hereAmazon Review
    Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Australian Aboriginal History, A Memoir (First Nations True Stories)
    Joy RS
    A memoir with a punch
    October 24, 2021
    Format : Paperback | Verified Purchase
    This is a frank and compelling story of a fight that should never have had to happen. Personal anecdotes are interwoven with a very important message for us all and the photographs bring it very close. This author’s writing about the marginalised people in Australia has always resonated with me. I am South African and witnessed the end of apartheid and the inclusion of every citizen as a human being with equal rights. It has, therefore, long angered me that other countries have legislation and social constructs that are just as draconian as those under apartheid yet parade themselves as democracies. I was so glad to read this book, which not only tells Australia’s story of human rights travesties but also demonstrates that there are solutions. It is at once heartbreaking and uplifting and should be required reading for everyone who thinks apartheid is South African only and that there are human beings who are in any way less than other human beings. I recommend this to you as well!

    You can find it here 

    Left – Barbara holding an early copy of Shattered Lives Broken Dreams

    Right – Barbara with Jeremy Jones after she gave a lunchtime talk about her memoir White Woman Black Heart at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

     

    Newsletter April 2022

    Hi all you wonderful readers – Well a little late with this newsletter but it has been a busy writing time. I was happy to write the history of the leaders of an Aboriginal community I’ve had a lot to do with for a special event they have in May. 

    I’ve also been asked to write a handbook for schools which will be a surprise to readers until I finish it.

    Last week I did an interview with a South African writer on the topic of Writing Memoirs That Matter. It will be part of an international book summit where a number of writers speak about the writing and book publishing process. I’ll keep you posted on that too in case you want to check it out. Both of my memoirs – White Woman Black Heart and Secrets and Lies have been bestsellers on Amazon from time to time.

    Earlier on, I did an interview with ABC National Radio for their overnight program on my books on William Cooper. It meant I was interviewed live and answered questions from the audience at 3am in the morning, a big ask!

    NEW BOOK COMING UP

    A book on the European explorers’ quests to find the unknown great south land in the Pacific.

    Left – Patricia Ryan launched her book on communication at the Rydges Cairns last week and I was one of the authors from Tropical Writers who shared about my books and had them available for sale.

    Right – Donna Odegaard who owns First Nations TV in Darwin visited Munganbana Aboriginal Art Gallery and is photographed with me there. My books are available here at 33 Lake St Cairns. Ph Munganbana 0407128199. While there, check out his awesome paintings.

    Review of If I Survive
    from Amazon
    Guy S
    5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful must read book
    Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2022
    Verified Purchase

    This book is a tour de force, a must read book that blends the personal story of a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and 2nd world war, with the history of that period, made vivid through the eyes of a brave young Jewish girl enduring the pain and suffering of that horrid period, helping those in need the best way she could, and hiding from not only the Nazi’s but her Polish countrymen, for such long periods in horrendous conditions.

    I have read many books about this period and yet this book touches one deeply not only because of the personal exploits, hope and survival of Lena during this terrible period in history, but because the author successfully meshes the history of that period with the story, such that the impact of what was truly happening at that time, the occupation of Poland by the Nazi’s, the resistance, the day to day living under occupation, the concentration camps, is felt with force, not at all like many boring history books. The aim of this book is not only to save the personal story of a single person that endured and survived that treacherous period for eternity, but to educate the younger generation of what really happened at that time, in the hope that such barbarism will never happen again. In my view, this book is a must read, not only by adults, but by all older schoolchildren, alongside Anne Franks diary. It is worthy of that.

    REVIEW OF THE DYING DAYS OF SEGREGATION IN AUSTRALIA

     from Amazon

    Dan Stirling
    5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling first-hand account of the apartheid-type treatment of Aboriginals in Australia
    Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase

    A compelling first-hand account of the apartheid-type treatment of Aboriginals in Australia, even in modern times, and the efforts to eliminate legal discrimination from the 1960s to 1980s.
    Long after most Western countries had given full equality to all citizens, parts of Australia continued to subjugate its Aboriginals. Segregation, control over property ownership, and limits on education were just part of a system designed to keep them under the thumb of their supposed superiors. Barbara Miller documents the abuses as well as the efforts made to overcome them, culminating in the Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984 which finally showed a federal commitment to ending discrimination. In this 2nd edition Miller updates with changes that have come about in the 30-plus years since the Act.

    Left – I was being interviewed by zoom a few days ago for an international book summit in June on writing and publishing. My topic was Writing Memoirs That Matter. 

    Right – An earlier launch of a book on William Cooper at the Lamm Library in Melbourne.

    Question – What is on your reading list for the new year?
    Or a book that you like? Let me know via email

    BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE

    WAR ON THE WEST
    By Douglas Murray

    Book description from Amazon:

    “‘The most important book of the year’  Daily Mail

    The brilliant and provocative new book from one of the world’s foremost political writers
    ‘The anti-Western revisionists have been out in force in recent years. It is high time that we revise them in turn…’

    In The War on the West, international bestselling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is one of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it?

    It’s become perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech. Some of this is a much-needed reckoning; however, some is part of a larger international attack on reason, democracy, science, progress and the citizens of the West by dishonest scholars, hatemongers, hostile nations and human-rights abusers hoping to distract from their ongoing villainy.

    In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows the ways in which many well-meaning people have been lured into polarisation by lies, and shows how far the world’s most crucial political debates have been hijacked across Europe and America. Propelled by an incisive deconstruction of inconsistent arguments and hypocritical activism, The War on the West is an essential and urgent polemic that cements Murray’s status as one of the world’s foremost political writers.”

    Preorder on Amazon 

    Newsletter March 2022

    Hi all you wonderful readers – There has been a lot happening in the world and we trust you are in a good place and can take time out from your busy schedule to read some interesting books. It has been said that “reading is dreaming with open eyes.” What do you dream about when you read?

    Author Marji Hill, who facilitates the Fast Self-Publishing Online group, interviewed author Barbara Miller this week.

    NEW BOOK COMING UP

    A book on the European explorers’ quests to find the unknown great south land in the Pacific.

    Summer or winter, autumn or spring, pick up a book

    Review of White Australia Has A Black History: William Cooper And First Nations Peoples’ Political Activism

    5 Star Review – We’ve learned about the atrocities that were committed against Aboriginal people during white settlement but never before have I read about the attempts by Aboriginals like William Cooper to try and work with the system, to try and succeed as farmers. Barbara tells a heartbreaking story of betrayal and injustice, not against rebels, but against people who made every attempt to work with the Government. We learn how the original owners of the land didn’t ask for anything more than what was given to the white settlers, but they were denied even this. Worse, it was sometimes given and taken away as collective punishment for the failure of a minority of people to fulfil obligations. forced on them.

    This book should be mandatory reading in the Australian school curriculum. (Mike007, Amazon reviewer)

    Check White Australia Has A Black History out as it is only $2.99 US for the ebook. Click here.

    Shattered Lives Broken Dreams: William Cooper and Australian Aborigines Protest Holocaust

    5-star review, Amazing Story – Shattered Lives Broken Dreams: William Cooper and Australian Aborigines Protest Holocaust ( William Cooper Gentle Warrior Series Book 2) by Barbara Miller. This is a historic novel about how the Australian Aborigines protested against the Jew Holocaust during the Nazi regimen. The fact that these Australians guided by William Cooper had done a fierce protest against the holocaust is something that took me by surprise, I am very aware of everything that happened during the Holocaust, not just because I read about it but because I had classmates that their parents used to have the concentration camp number in their wrists, like a second-hand history close to me during my high school years but I had never heard this story about William Cooper and their mates. The book is well written, it has a lot of investigative work involved in its development, it has some pictures about the events that are narrated and I think that if you are a history fan or if you want to know things about the Jew Holocaust that you don’t know yet, this is a great book to read.
    Review by Quirru, Amazon reviewer
    Check the book out here, only $2.99 US.

    Right – I am with my William Cooper Gentle Warrior book which is available with free shipping from my website. Click here.

    Left – My follow-up memoir, Secrets and Lies (2021) which is doing well on Amazon Aust. 

    Review of Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Aboriginal History, A Memoir” 

    5 star review – A Memoir with a Punch – This is a frank and compelling story of a fight that should never have had to happen. Personal anecdotes are interwoven with a very important message for us all and the photographs bring it very close. This author’s writing about the marginalised people in Australia has always resonated with me. I am South African and witnessed the end of apartheid and the inclusion of every citizen as a human being with equal rights. It has, therefore, long angered me that other countries have legislation and social constructs that are just as draconian as those under apartheid yet parade themselves as democracies. I was so glad to read this book, which not only tells Australia’s story of human rights travesties but also demonstrates that there are solutions. It is at once heartbreaking and uplifting and should be required reading for everyone who thinks apartheid is South African only and that there are human beings who are in any way less than other human beings. I recommend this to you as well!
    by Joy RS Amazon reviewer
    For a closer look, click here

    BOOK OF THE MONTH FEATURE

    For the Record: 160 years of Aboriginal print journalism by

    Michael Rose

    From September 1836 to December 1837, young Aboriginal clerks produced the Flinders Island Weekly Chronicle, a remarkable record of life on the island off Tasmania where a number of Aboriginal people had been forced to resettle. Copied by hand, it describes the settlement in often poignant terms ‘I am much afraid none of us will be alive by and by as there is nothing but sickness among us. Why don’t the black fellows pray to the king to get us away from this place?’

    Starting with this extraordinary newsletter, Michael Rose has brought together examples of Aboriginal journalism from a wide range of Aboriginal and mainstream publications. He includes articles from early activists and others who used newspaper and magazine journalism in their fight for justice.

    For The Record also offers the reader an unusual glimpse, through Aboriginal eyes, of key issues and events in Aboriginal and Australian history. Included in the dozens of articles selected: protests about poor treatment on reserves in the 1930s, an eyewitness account of a Maralinga atomic bomb test in the 1950s, Bill Rosser’s reporting of life on Palm Island, Kevin Gilbert’s passionate call for a formal treaty between Aboriginal people and the Australian government and Poel Pearson’s commentary on the High Court’s Mabo decision.

    You can check it out here.
    Interestingly, there are some articles by me as both Barbara Russell, my maiden name, and Barbara Miller, my married name as I was the editor and a writer for the “N.Q. Messagestick” an Aboriginal newspaper for the North Queensland Land Council.

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

    (New link update!) Barbara Miller Books Newsletter Nov 2021

     

    Hi all you wonderful readers – the holiday season is fast approaching and I wish you some wonderful time out with family and friends. Also, let’s hope you can snuggle up with a book around a fireside in colder climates or lay on a beach and read while listening to the waves lapping on a sandy shore. Mine will be the latter.

    Barbara miller book ebook promo

    Book Launch 7 Dec 12md AEDT Zoom

    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. I launched it on amazon for NAIDOC and it has been bestseller in a number of categories from time to time. I was invited to have a physical launch at the Cairns Tropical Writers Festival but it was postponed till next year due to covid. So this zoom launch will enable my friends and book lovers from around the world to join in.

    Review

    Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Aboriginal History, A Memoir, is both a political chronicle and a personal memoir – a journey the young Barbara took into political activism and personal transformation, which became life-long. Barbara Miller shows the political and the personal can be two sides of a life journey of service.

    There is critical history in this book from an activist on the inside.  Yet the book also shows that political activism is not enough. It must be balanced by personal integrity and pursuit. The journey from the political into the personal, with fulfillment in spiritual practice, is also illuminating. Can we do one without the other?  I think not, whatever the spiritual practice is. 

    Barbara’s book bought memories of the days of the Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council (ACC), both of us working at different levels within the ACC to respond to the directions and needs of the old reserve mission controls moving into deeds of grant in trust and ‘self-management’. Barbara’s political background provided essential insight and sound analysis. Mine saw the failure of the services delivered by a racist regime, with the ACC working to meet their legislative responsibilities. Barbara supported this work through research. Hers has been an inspirational journey of service at many levels.

    Judy Atkinson, Emeritus Professor, PhD AM

    Here is an interesting earlier interview I did with a Native American interviewer, Marina Maria of Faith City Outreach for her podcast:


    Check out Marina Maria’s new website!
    https://www.globalgospelworshipradio.org/

     

    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.  – https://barbara-miller-books.com/

    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.

    BOOK OF THE MONTH

    Keith DeLacy, A Philosophical Journey

    Your Price: $39.95
    ISBN:9781922449603
    Connorcourt Publishing

    Sadly Keith DeLacy passed away a few days ago of cancer at 81 years of age but he managed to publish his memoir in time – in September 2021. He even spoke at a function in Brisbane one week before he passed. An outstanding treasurer in the Queensland government, he is reported by a Gympie newspaper as being critical of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in his book, having worked with him in the Goss government. I knew Keith personally in my early days and he seemed to be a person of integrity.John Roskam

    DeLacy weaves together a tale of family, sport, politics, and business with candour, humanity, and profound insight. Anyone who wants to understand modern Australia must read this important and significant work.’ Gary Johns

     
    ‘When he became Treasurer in the Wayne Goss government he knew that Labor had a bad reputation for reckless spending. He set about making sure that he would not repeat the mistakes of other administrations. He succeeded. De Lacy has had a celebrated career after politics as a company director and entrepreneur.

    Pre-publication Interview I did with Sylvia Tabua of Torres Strait Islander Radio on my book Secrets and Lies. It was a phone interview and my husband Norman videod me

    GET $10 DISCOUNT OFF MY LATEST BOOK

    Amazon Australia has a promotion on the paperback of my book Secrets and Lies which would make a good gift. It is $10 off the paperback when ordered by the amazon app. Enter code MAX10 at checkout. Here is the link to get the special – https://www.amazon.com.au/Secrets-Lies-Shocking-Australian-Aboriginal/dp/0648870928/

    If you are an avid reader and are in KDP select, all my ebooks are free. I am in KDP select as I pay a low monthly fee and can read 10 books free as often as I like. Sounds good?

    Question – What is your favourite book and why in a few words? Or a book that impacted you as a child? Let me know via email

    Barbara Miller Books Newsletter June 2021

    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 medial. It is my second memoir, a follow-up from White Woman Black Heart which was too long. So in mid-2017, I pulled out about 50,000 words written mostly in 2016 and published White Woman Black Heart in March 2018. I planned to use the chapters I took out to write a second memoir and wondered if I would ever get back to it.

    Then in November 2020, I had a dream where I was taken to Aurukun Aboriginal community, and saw an elder, a relative by marriage who was a Uniting Church pastor. In my dream, I thought ‘but you’ve passed away’. Then I saw a young Aboriginal girl who I thought might be his great-granddaughter. She pointed to a mobile phone of all things and said, “This is your story. You need to tell it.” Surprised, I didn’t say anything. The next morning, I remembered the dream clearly and that the first few chapters of my unfinished second memoir were about Aurukun. This gave me the inspiration and motivation to pick up the pieces and finish the writing.

    REVIEW
    Secrets and Lies: The Shocking Truth of Recent Aboriginal History, A Memoir, is both a political chronicle and a personal memoir – a journey the young Barbara took into political activism and personal transformation, which became life-long. Barbara Miller shows the political and the personal can be two sides of a life journey of service.

    There is critical history in this book from an activist on the inside. Yet the book also shows that political activism is not enough. It must be balanced by personal integrity and pursuit. The journey from the political into the personal, with fulfillment in spiritual practice, is also illuminating. Can we do one without the other? I think not, whatever the spiritual practice is.

    Barbara’s book bought memories of the days of the Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council (ACC), both of us working at different levels within the ACC to respond to the directions and needs of the old reserve mission controls moving into deeds of grant in trust and ‘self-management’. Barbara’s political background provided essential insight and sound analysis. Mine saw the failure of the services delivered by a racist regime, with the ACC working to meet their legislative responsibilities. Barbara supported this work through research. Hers has been an inspirational journey of service at many levels.

    Judy Atkinson, Emeritus Professor, PhD AM

    ANOTHER REVIEW OF SECRETS AND LIES
    Secrets and Lies contains exciting examples of the battles by the indigenous people of QLD against a repressive state regime which greedily sought to control their land and their lives in order to exploit the natural resources. They have developed a remarkable capacity for developing relationships with non-indigenous people who have joined them in their struggle. Barbara has been admitted, not only into their confidence, but also into their families and has achieved remarkable advantages for them in those battles.

    Paul Richards, lawyer, author of Adventures with Agitators


    MONTHLY FEATURED BOOK BY ANOTHER AUTHOR

    it is incredible to read a true account of a life and understand firsthand what leads a person down ‘an inevitable path’. The person in question is Josie Lacey OAM whose experiences of antisemitism and the rise of Nazism saw her and her parents have to leave their homeland, apply to immigrate to Australia, arriving here in 1939.

    At school as a ‘reffo’ Josie encountered ignorance and antisemitism which left an indelible mark. Her strong moral stance and her deep desire to combat racism and foster greater understanding between people of different faiths has resulted in her extraordinary life’s work; to educate, demystify and to fulfill responsibilities to family members who never had the chance to reach their potential. The scope and extent of this work demonstrates Josie’s many and varied achievements, including her interfaith activities, her enormous contribution to WIZO and her work on the Race Discrimination laws. Her commitment to her husband, Ian, and to her family is like every aspect of her life; complete and unfaltering.

    This book reveals Josie’s thoughts on so many subjects and shows her joie de vivre and the passion she has to effect change, which is Josie’s hallmark. An insightful and comprehensive look into a life well-lived, An Inevitable Path will provide the reader with a real sense of the amazing woman that is Josie Lacey.

    ORDER FROM
    – https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/shop/products/books/an-inevitable-path/

    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 – www.barbara-miller-books.com

    Be blessed and happy reading!

    Newsletter May 2021

    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!

    Newsletter for Feb-March 2021

    Spoiler Alert – new book is on the way. Possible title – Battles with Bjelke: An Insider View of the Aboriginal Movement, A Memoir. This may not be the title but it is a shocking expose of the treatment of Aboriginal people in the days of the Bjelke-Petersen government and beyond and their valiant resistance.

    Left – Barbara with John Mark and Susan Brown at the Paanja Festival at Mapoon. They were visiting from New Mapoon. Right – Barbara with Henrietta Fourmile and Rev Dorita at the launch of her book at Yarrabah – The Dying Days of Segregation in Australia: Case Study Yarrabah.

    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 –
    www.barbara-miller-books.com

    Be blessed and happy reading!

    Recent interview on William Cooper, Evian and Kristallnacht conducted with Barbara by Ruth Webb for Bendigo Radio.