By Wallace Williams                                                                                                                             September 6, 2000                               

PAPERBARK: a collection of Black Australian writings  

Edited by: Jack Davis Stephen Muecke, Mudrooroo Narogin and Adam Shoemaker

     This book came to my attention when working  Edgar Lake, poet (see previous column  April 27 The Poet As Long Distance Runner  | August 31, 2000 Poets Are Long Distance Runners Too! An interview with Edgar Othniel Lake).  He pointed out to me that during the sixties when African-American writers were identifying in their works, a continuum, parallels of the struggles of the "pre Civil Rights era" as exemplified by the protests taking the form of urban riots in the "big" American cities.  Significant too, is that Aboriginal and islander authors were continuing to established comprehensive works, a litany of prose, poetry and drama from the 1800's and before.  

     PAPERBARK, according to the editor, started in 1983, "as an outgrowth from the First National Aboriginal Writers' Conference held at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia".  The work spans some six years.  Published by the University of Queensland Press, it is an award winning project and "paralleled moves towards the establishment of a literary award for new Black Australian writing...the David Unaipon Award". 

Examples of work found in PAPERBARK:

"...Ho! Brother.  Tread upon the wide plains. Lonley rugged mountains rule the land."  The Hunter By Archie Weller

"...Shoulder to shoulder 'til freedom's won; Brace your back, Dig in your heel And if need be, Prepare for the onslaught of cold steel!"  Here Comes the Nigger (extract) by Gerry Bostock

"...Time has come to play their sucker game If you hang back you'll lose track of where they are going...I knew I had it coming but she don't hesitate why should she keep me waiting when the train is running late...You wipe me off my face Let's multiply the Aboriginal race..."  Bran Nue Dae ACT 2 SCENE 1  SONG: "Tourist Dollar" (Rosie) by Jimmy Chi and others

PURNARRA Jimmy Pike

Purnarra--this marking is like a number, a brand.  It is used by all the Aboriginal people over a big area. It shows that anything with this marking comes from the bush-desert south of Kimberleys.

When people see this purnarra carving, they know what number that country has. 'Ah, that come from my country'.  Many tribes use the same number, same meaning, cut different way.

It is part of the law.  Aboriginies believe in this number.  Carving on nulla nulla, spear, woomera, shield, coolamon (water holder), Marrillaly (shovel for cooking), wangkuli (sieve for wheat), tarta (cup)."

PAPERBARK: a collection of Black Australian Writing edited by: Jack Davis, Stephen Muecke, Mudooroo Narogin, Adam Shoemaker. Cover design by Peter Evans using Dream Time Landscape by Trevor Nickolls (1989, synthetic polymer on canvas, 75.6 x 91.2cm) University of Queensland Press

This is a photo of an original poster produced in conjunction with the 1981 USA tour of Aboriginal Artists of Australia.

Our thanks to the editor for allowing the use of this work and Edgar Lake who provided the book and poster from his private collection. 

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