This anthology shares memories that are incredibly hard to confront. Decades later, Ian Dudley recounts being told he was ‘not black enough to be black, always too black to be white’ (p. Carol Pettersen remembers growing up on a mission and being separated from her siblings ‘into separate castes based on the colour of our skins… even though we walked past each other many times daily, we could not talk or hug each other’ (p. Some of the most vividly described incidents of racism in this anthology are judgements on skin tone. To Australia’s shame, there is one universal experience for those who grow up Aboriginal in Australia.

They are not only Aboriginal, they may also be Irish or Spanish or another nationality, they may be gay or straight or queer, they may be Christian or atheist or choose not to say, and they may be sports stars or musicians, parents or children. But every individual in this anthology has layers to their identity. It may be the main part of their identify, it may not. 9).īeing Aboriginal is one part of the identity of each of these contributors. As Susie Anderson remembers, ‘if we didn’t fit the idea of what they thought being Aboriginal was, then we must be lying’(p. This seems obvious, and yet, so many of the contributions in this anthology demonstrate that many parts of Australian society still expect Aboriginal people to fit a preconceived definition – or in other words, a stereotype – of what an Aboriginal person should be. The point is clear: there is no universal experience of growing up Aboriginal. It means knowing one’s mob and speaking their language, or never knowing your ancestors or what language they spoke. It means growing up on Country, but also being a city kid. It means growing up surrounded by family, but it also means being removed from kin. There is no one definition of growing up Aboriginal. There are poems, essays and letters, and they offer varied – and sometimes conflicting – perspectives on what it means to grow up Aboriginal in Australia. The anthology highlights the importance of lived experience: Heiss does not tell the reader what growing up Aboriginal is like, she lets the reader consider more than fifty different answers to that question for themselves.Įach contribution is different: not only in terms of the writer’s age, socio-economic background, education and location, but in approach and writing style.

Growing up aboriginal in australia book