‘Kimberley Stories’, edited by Sandy Toussaint
Kaya everyone, welcome to #DeadlyWABookClub! Over the next three months I’ll be analysing and celebrate the writing of Aboriginal authors from Western Australia. I’ll also be sharing some essays published in the journal JASAL, to raise awareness of the big thinkers of today who are discussing and critiquing Australian literature. This is all thanks to my writer’s fellowship from ASAL/Copyright Agency - thank you! Find out more at ASAL.
Just a warning to mob that there will be names of people who have since passed away listed below.
Today I’m sharing a special book with you all that’s close to my heart, because it’s not only a beautiful anthology of writers from the Kimberley region of north-west WA, but also the first book I was published in myself at 13 years’ of age. ‘Kimberley Stories’, edited by Sandy Toussaint and published by Fremantle Press in 2012, is a small glimpse into several perspectives, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, from the Kimberley. To some, the Kimberley is a haven – magical, nourishing, that place where life begins and ends, and where the spirituality of Country is ever-present. To others, the landscapes are brimming with uncertainty, harsh weather, and seasonal bouts of small-town madness. To all, the region is sacred, unique, and more ancient than we could ever imagine.
In her essay, ‘Sacred Earth and Ancestral Gifts’, Pat Mamanjyun Torres talks about her boogari, dreaming stories and ancient knowledge of Country, and the ability her family shares of being able to ‘dream’ a person or place – picking up on something or someone’s energy or see glimpses of the future. With humorous delight and revelling in superstitions of a lucky catch, Marminjiya Joy Nugget shares her experience of catching her first barramundi on the mighty Martuwarra, or Fitzroy River. In Jimmy Chi’s song ‘Northern Town’, one imagines a gentle chord progression tilting silently to the endless flow of cold beers at the Roebuck Hotel, as he sings: “And the seasons come / and the seasons go / and all eight seasons / just ebb and flow...” And my own contribution, ‘A Pair of Feet’, is a love letter to the Kimberley as the child I was, with naïve adoration for blistered, pindan-stained feet and scorched earth parks, long-forgotten by the local Shire.
Image: Kelvin Garlett’s writing in Kimberley Stories, titled Dugong Connections.
‘Kimberley Stories’ is not only a collection of beautiful stories that reflect the many colourful lives in the region, but a testament, I think, to the power self-expression through writing can have for small communities. In the essay ‘Unpenning Words: Releasing Literature from Within (2016),’ Nicholson, Krishnabhakdhi-Vasilakis and Higgins discuss how juvenile prisoners, who were mostly Indigenous, at Junee Correctional Centre near Gadigal Country in Sydney benefitted from a literacy program and publishing an annual anthology of their stories. While I’m not comparing the Kimberley to a prison by any means(!), I think this essay articulates the impact of writing and publication can have for Indigenous writers. The authors argue that creative writing can transform the ways participants view themselves, increasing their self-worth and confidence, to a place where they proudly own the identity of storyteller and writer. The anthology then becomes a “a conduit of emotions, and a bridge between inside and outside… a means of personal transformation (p. 4).” Not only that, but the promise that their stories might “rattle the cage” of the dominant colonial society, bringing attention to uniquely Indigenous life experiences – the knowledge, the joy, the pain, the diversity of it all – is both empowering and healing.
I know for a young 13-year-old girl such as myself to be published, ‘Kimberley Stories’ will always remind me of the ways literature can make invisible folk feel seen and celebrated.
Image: Extract from Peter Bibby’s play Escapadia.
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Question for your next book club: Do all the different contributions to ‘Kimberley Stories’ create a cohesive, unified picture of the Kimberley, or does it seem more disparate and elusive than ever?
Note: If you’re interested in reading more regular book reviews for books by Aboriginal writers, I highly recommend you follow @blackfulla_bookclub on Instagram, they are fantastic!
