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Remembering Aboriginal
Heroes by John Ramsland and Christopher Mooney ISBN: 9781920785857 $30 |
A celebration of
great Australians of Aboriginal descent. Albert Namatjira was a great watercolour landscape artist. Harold Blair was an outstandingly charismatic concert tenor of vast audience appeal. Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth starred in Charles Chauvel's ground-breaking Australian movie, "Jedda". Reg Saunders was a highly decorated war hero and the first Aboriginal commissioned officer in the permanent Australian armed forces. Harry Penrith (later known as Burnum Burnum) was a brilliant and versatile teenage sporting star and later a public figure of charisma and controversy. These and other figures have risen to prominence in Australian history: inspirational icons of Aboriginal descent, representative of the culture of the day and of their own people. Some have permanently influenced the minds of Australians and remain famous to this day. Others have been unjustly forgotten. "Remember Aboriginal Heroes" offers an unparalleled biographical exploration of their lives, offering an understanding of the resilient Aboriginal culture and its vital place in Australia society. |
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Aboriginal People and
their Plants by Philip A. Clarke ISBN: 9781877058516 $40 |
This book is unique, spanning the gap between botany and indigenous studies. It differs from other published Australian ‘bushtucker’ overviews by treating the study of plants as a window upon which to delve into Aboriginal culture. The topic of Aboriginal use and perception of plants is vast and therefore far too large for full treatment of all regions in a single volume. Nevertheless, this book offers an overview to assist readers appreciate the depth of indigenous ecological knowledge about the environment. |
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Aboriginal Men of High
Degree by A.P. Elkin ISBN: 9780892814213 $30 |
The first book to reveal the secret and sacred practices of Aboriginal shamans, Aboriginal Men of High Degree presents an extraordinary series of rites by which the young Aboriginal male begins the degrees of shamanic initiation--each marked by its own portion of esoteric knowledge. One of Australia's most eminent anthropologists, A. P. Elkin focuses on karadji, or men of high degree, who possess magical powers and who serve as channels between the Dreamtime beings and their own communities. As psychologists and psychic experts, the karadji are essential to the groups' social chesion. They are believed to cure and kill mysteriously, make rain, anticipate future events, and appear and disappear at will. Not content to explain away these phenomenon, Elkin boldly suggests that we enter into the karadji worldview and try to understand this remarkable culture on its own terms. |
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Aboriginal Art of
Australia by Douglas Baglin & Barbara Mullins ISBN: 858990067 Published 1972 by Mulavon P/L, NSW 34 pages in full colour $7.50 |
An introduction to the world of traditional Aboriginal art; rock engravings, cave and bark paintings, decorative and symbolic designs both sacred and secular. |
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Kayang & Me by Kim Scott & Hazel Brown ISBN: 1 920731 17 2 One new copy which has publisher plate inside 2nd page: $20 (rrp $29.95) |
Kayang and Me
is a monumental oral-based history of the author's family, the south
coast Noongar people of Western Australia. Scott has interwoven his
Aunty Hazel Brown's words in with his own - creating a wonderful
investigation of contemporary Aboriginal history, in his beautiful
signature style. Kayang - meaning, respectfully, 'Old Lady' - was born in 1925. Through her stingingly candid voice comes the story of her people and her country. |
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Dispossesion: Black Australians and White
Invaders by Henry Reynolds ISBN: 0 04 370182 5 One only, used copy of the original 1989 edition: $10. Very good condition. |
Aboriginal and immigrant Australians have shared this continent for over 200 years. Nineteenth century writers were aware of the importance of the Aboriginal presence, but when the colonists began writing their own history, the Aborigines were erased from the account. Recently, this 'history' has been overturned as we rediscover the role of Aborigines in Australia's past. |