Benang

Harley's white grandfather, Ernest Scat, made him the subject of an experiment: over generations the family's Aboriginal ancestry was to be bred out until the 'first white man born' appeared. Harley is meant to be that man, and he would rather be a failure. Brought up to carry one heritage and ignore the other, he gathers what remains, his grandfather's notes and photographs, documents and his own memories, to rebuild the lives of those who came before him: Fanny and Sandy One Mason, Harriette and the Coolman twins, Kathleen and Jack Chatalong. Moving between past and present, his account shows how colonisation and assimilation cut Indigenous families off from their origins, and asks what it takes to return.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

Australia

First published

1999

Author's age

42 when first published

ISBN

9781863682404 (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Australia)

9781925164442 (Fremantle Press, Australia)

9781760993467 (Fremantle Press, Australia)

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Wikidata