FEATURED TITLE

Our first title comes from Wongutha Country (Western Australia): wangka is to speak, Wongutha is one who speaks desert language:

Through Silent Country

is a story from the very edge of the desert, like our namesake. It’s an epic exile and escape story from the 1920s, drawn from Wongutha testimony, from the author’s experience of place as she traced the escapees’ journey, and from original archival sources such as the local police letterbook.

What’s new about the second edition? Archived government files, previously ‘closed’ and unavailable for research access, are now ‘open’ and form the heart of a brand new chapter, adding fascinating depth of detail to the story. And the dark and treacherous dealings of the ‘Chief Protector of Aborigines’ are brought into the light, one hundred and one years on…

‘Just brilliant’ —Good Reading Magazine

‘As poignantly as it is brilliantly written.’—Prof Tom Stannage, AM

‘It’s the truth that has to be told … the general run of the Australian people don’t know what happened.’—Auntie Sadie Canning, MBE, Co-Commissioner, Stolen Generations Inquiry

‘The extraordinary stories of one of the epic journeys of Australian history … privileges the voices of those who endured or still talk about these experiences … a notable achievement’ —Professor Peter Read, ANU

‘Above all I’m moved by the courage and resilience of those people. They stuck together at Mogumber and helped each other - what were the odds against a group like that - one blind, one a baby, quite a few elderly! … a wonderful and important book.’ —Mag Merrilees, author of ‘Further Fables Queer and Familiar’

ABOUT OUR FEATURED AUTHOR

Carolyn Wadley Dowley is passionate about truth-telling stories.

AWARDS

Awards for her narrative nonfiction writing include the Eric Dark Varuna Fellowship, the NSW Premier’s History Award and two Australia Council Literature grants. Shortlists include the Pacific Rim Literature Prize and the 2022 Margaret Medcalf Award.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

1. The story of second-generation stolen child who attempts to reconnect the long-lost family and Country in remote Western Australia;
2. A celebration of the work of Indigenous Rangers across the deserts of central Australia commissioned by the Indigenous Desert Alliance; and
3. A poetry collection.

INTERESTING TO KNOW

Carolyn has volunteered for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy on jarrah forest botanical surveys, as a researcher for the UN in Kenya, and in (re)planting endemic species on local remnant bushland. Like our namesake, she is happiest On Country.