The Book :
“Terra nullius starts off reading like an historical fiction novel about the colonial settlement of Australia and the concurrent dispossession of our indigenous people. Coleman’s world of Settlers and Natives, of Troopers and Trackers, of Missions to which stolen children are taken for education, of a Department for the Protection of Natives, and so on, mimics colonial Western Australia in particular, but it’s not long before hints start to appear that all is not as we’ve assumed. This realisation is unsettling, and clever, because it forces non-indigenous readers to switch identification from the colonisers to the colonised.” Ref Whispering Gums
She wrote her black&write! fellowship-winning manuscript Terra Nullius while travelling around Australia in a caravan. Claire Colman has been writing professionally since 2015. Coleman delivered the Loris Williams Memorial Lecture, at the Australian Society of Archivists' 2018 annual conference, in Perth, Western Australia. Claire G. Coleman is a Wirlomin-Noongar-Australian writer and poet, whose 2017 debut novel, Terra Nullius won the Norma K Hemming Award. The first draft resulted in Coleman being awarded the State Library of Queensland's 2016 black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship’. She gave the Loris Williams Memorial Lecture at the 2018 Australian Society of Archivists conference. Coleman's essay, After the Grog War, was shortlisted for the 2018 Horne Prize. Ref: Wikipedia
Reader’s Review:
*“Wow, just wow. One of the most insightful and cleverly written fictional books on colonialism that I've ever picked up.” Laura –Good Reads review
*”Compelling, confronting and clever.
I can see clearly now the book is finished, but until then???
A well drawn and familiar landscape populated with very real characters. They carry the story and hold their worries and joys close until... Well you need to read this book and find out. Great writing transports you to another world and makes you think differently. This one did just that.” Veronica- Good Reads-reader review
Industry Reviews:
*Coleman stuns with this imaginative, astounding debut about colonization. - Publisher's Weekly *Terra Nullius is witty, weird, moving and original. - Weekend Australian * Coleman, a south coast Noongar woman from Western Australia, goes to the heart of Australia's challenge as a nation - how to universalise the experience of Indigenous people, so that it is something all Australians can understand. This is the essence of good fiction: it takes us away from our present reality and into another. - Zoe Pollock, Brisbane Writers Festival Ref: Booktopia Aust.
Our Review:
Our first book club for 2019, we had a robust discussion of this unusual book. Everyone had varying ideas about Claire Coleman’s unusual plot and the way she led the reader down one very familiar story path and then a third of the way into the novel the plot took a completely different path. The themes and the setting for these two pathways were the same but it became clear to the reader at about 80 pages into the book that the time of the story was different. I loved the way she constructed this surprise. It was so unique. Others in the group were confused or didn’t like it. The theme of colonisation of indigenous people by a stronger and more technological advanced invader had definite links to Australia’s past. We, as white Australians, were transported and led cleverly by the author, from identifying with the invaders to being the invaded. This book was not an enjoyable read, at times, I was very uncomfortable reading it but it was a very thought-provoking work of fiction. I’m glad I read it and I would recommend it. This was a good start to 2019 for our book club.
Review by Margaret Cassidy
| “Jacky was running. There was no thought in his head, only an intense drive to run. There was no sense he was getting anywhere, no plan, no destination, no future. All he had was a sense of what was behind, what he was running from. Jacky was running. The Natives of the Colony are restless. The Settlers are eager to have a nation of peace, and to bring the savages into line. Families are torn apart, re-education is enforced. This rich land will provide for all. This is not Australia as we know it. This is not the Australia of our history. This is not Australia as we know it. This is not the Australia of our history. This Terra Nullius is something new, but all too familiar. This is an incredible debut from a striking new Australian Aboriginal voice. ” Ref Good Reads |  |
“Terra nullius starts off reading like an historical fiction novel about the colonial settlement of Australia and the concurrent dispossession of our indigenous people. Coleman’s world of Settlers and Natives, of Troopers and Trackers, of Missions to which stolen children are taken for education, of a Department for the Protection of Natives, and so on, mimics colonial Western Australia in particular, but it’s not long before hints start to appear that all is not as we’ve assumed. This realisation is unsettling, and clever, because it forces non-indigenous readers to switch identification from the colonisers to the colonised.” Ref Whispering Gums
| About the author:
Claire G. Coleman Claire G Coleman is a writer from Western Australia. She identifies with the South Coast Noongar people. Her family are associated with the area around Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun. Claire grew up in a Forestry's settlement in the middle of a tree plantation, where her dad worked, not far out of Perth. |
 |
She wrote her black&write! fellowship-winning manuscript Terra Nullius while travelling around Australia in a caravan. Claire Colman has been writing professionally since 2015. Coleman delivered the Loris Williams Memorial Lecture, at the Australian Society of Archivists' 2018 annual conference, in Perth, Western Australia. Claire G. Coleman is a Wirlomin-Noongar-Australian writer and poet, whose 2017 debut novel, Terra Nullius won the Norma K Hemming Award. The first draft resulted in Coleman being awarded the State Library of Queensland's 2016 black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship’. She gave the Loris Williams Memorial Lecture at the 2018 Australian Society of Archivists conference. Coleman's essay, After the Grog War, was shortlisted for the 2018 Horne Prize. Ref: Wikipedia
Reader’s Review:
*“Wow, just wow. One of the most insightful and cleverly written fictional books on colonialism that I've ever picked up.” Laura –Good Reads review
*”Compelling, confronting and clever.
I can see clearly now the book is finished, but until then???
A well drawn and familiar landscape populated with very real characters. They carry the story and hold their worries and joys close until... Well you need to read this book and find out. Great writing transports you to another world and makes you think differently. This one did just that.” Veronica- Good Reads-reader review
Industry Reviews:
*Coleman stuns with this imaginative, astounding debut about colonization. - Publisher's Weekly *Terra Nullius is witty, weird, moving and original. - Weekend Australian * Coleman, a south coast Noongar woman from Western Australia, goes to the heart of Australia's challenge as a nation - how to universalise the experience of Indigenous people, so that it is something all Australians can understand. This is the essence of good fiction: it takes us away from our present reality and into another. - Zoe Pollock, Brisbane Writers Festival Ref: Booktopia Aust.
Our Review:
Our first book club for 2019, we had a robust discussion of this unusual book. Everyone had varying ideas about Claire Coleman’s unusual plot and the way she led the reader down one very familiar story path and then a third of the way into the novel the plot took a completely different path. The themes and the setting for these two pathways were the same but it became clear to the reader at about 80 pages into the book that the time of the story was different. I loved the way she constructed this surprise. It was so unique. Others in the group were confused or didn’t like it. The theme of colonisation of indigenous people by a stronger and more technological advanced invader had definite links to Australia’s past. We, as white Australians, were transported and led cleverly by the author, from identifying with the invaders to being the invaded. This book was not an enjoyable read, at times, I was very uncomfortable reading it but it was a very thought-provoking work of fiction. I’m glad I read it and I would recommend it. This was a good start to 2019 for our book club.
Review by Margaret Cassidy
No comments:
Post a Comment