What a great theme for this year’s NAIDOC week, celebrating the pillars of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society – the women.

At QUT Library we thought we’d do the same by highlighting a few books and eBooks by some truly inspirational female indigenous authors.

Taboo by Kim Scott:

Taboo takes place in the present day, in the rural South-West of Western Australia, and tells the story of a group of Noongar people who revisit, for the first time in many decades, a taboo place: the site of a massacre that followed the assassination, by these Noongar’s descendants, of a white man who had stolen a black woman. They come at the invitation of Dan Horton, the elderly owner of the farm on which the massacres unfolded. He hopes that by hosting the group he will satisfy his wife’s dying wishes and cleanse some moral stain from the ground on which he and his family have lived for generations.

Remembered by Heart edited by Sally Morgan:

A collection of powerful, true stories of Aboriginal life This anthology brings together 15 memoirs of growing up Aboriginal in Australia and includes works from bestselling author Sally Morgan; and the critically acclaimed artist, author, and activist Bronwyn Bancroft. These true stories of adolescence are as diverse as they are moving, and offer readers insight into the pain, humor, grief, hope, and pride that makes up Indigenous experiences.

The Quiet Revolution: Indigenous people and the resources boom by Marcia Langton

When W.E.H. Stanner delivered the Boyer Lectures in 1968, he gave credence, perhaps inadvertently, to the widely held assumption at that time that Aboriginal life was incommensurate with modern economic life. Today, the expectation is quite the reverse. The emergence of an Aboriginal middle class in Australia in the last two to three decades has gone largely unnoticed. There are hundreds of Aboriginal businesses and Aboriginal not-for-profit corporations with income streams, delivering economic outcomes to communities on an unprecedented scale. This text is an investigation into the dependency of Aboriginal businesses and not-for-profit corporations on the resources industry, and their resultant vulnerability to economic downturns.

NAIDOC Week events at QUT this year include a free screening of The Sapphires on the A block lawn at KG (9th July 4:30-7.30pm) and a  panel discussion involving one of the original Sapphires, Aunty Lois Peeler.

Dr Anita Heiss has been confirmed as this year’s speaker for Paperbark: First Nation Narratives (8 August from 10.30 , KG Library) .  Dr Heiss will speak about her work and the Aboriginal literary pioneers who have inspired her.  She is an inspiring speaker so definitely something to mark out in your calendar.

Painted by Bigambul woman, Cheryl Moggs, from Goondiwindi, the painting portrays the 2018 theme, Because of her, we can!   It shows the courage and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Listen here to the artist speak about her inspiration for the poster.