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Every Secret Thing
When culture and faith collide . . . nothing is sacred
In the Aboriginal missions of far northern Australia, it was a battle between saving souls and saving traditional culture.
Every Secret Thing is a rough, tough, hilarious portrayal of the Bush Mob and the Mission Mob, and the hapless clergy trying to convert them. In these tales, everyone is fair game.
At once playful and sharp, Marie Munkara's wonderfully original stories cast a taunting new light on the mission era in Australia.
'told with biting wit and riotous humour'
Judges' comments, Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (2008)
In the Aboriginal missions of far northern Australia, it was a battle between saving souls and saving traditional culture.
Every Secret Thing is a rough, tough, hilarious portrayal of the Bush Mob and the Mission Mob, and the hapless clergy trying to convert them. In these tales, everyone is fair game.
At once playful and sharp, Marie Munkara's wonderfully original stories cast a taunting new light on the mission era in Australia.
'told with biting wit and riotous humour'
Judges' comments, Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (2008)
130 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 31, 2009
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203 people want to read
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January 19, 2015
I intended to read this book for the 2015 Australian Women Writers challenge, but as I realised I had read it before, that was not to be.
However, in the spirit of the challenge - and because it is a must-read, and excellent with it - I figured a review would still be worth writing.
Every Secret Thing is written as an account, told by anecdote, of the development of the relationship between the bush mob and the mission mob - the latter have set up the mission somewhere in northern Australia, not too far from a town referred to as Big Joint, with the purpose of Christianising and "civilising" the bush mob.
The various anecdotes tell, humorously, disputes and misunderstandings between the bush mob and the mission mob, and within each, with everyone's flaws exposed and with the joke generally being on the mission mob - at least at first. The kids confound the visiting Bishop with their logic (why would Adam and Eve eat the apple instead of the snake when the snake would taste better?); Augustine and Methuselah outsmart Brother Michael and make off with various livestock in The Brotherhood; Pwomiga gives deliberate, and hilarious, mistranslations in Wurruwataka.
But as the book goes on, the stories become more and more bittersweet. The dark undercurrent which is evident from the beginning, such as oblique references to child sexual abuse, become stronger and more explicit, such as the story of Tapalinga and Perpetua, two members of the Stolen Generations, in The Garden of Eden. And the ending, which I won't spoil, is very black indeed.
We have far too few stories about the mission mob/bush mob interaction from the perspective of the bush mob. What I think is particularly valuable about a book like this is that it treats the bush mob's life pre-mission-mob as the baseline, and the interactions with the intruders, the parts of European culture/industralisation the bush mob accept or reject are explained, and make sense, in that context. For example, if you have always cooked over an open fire, why would you automatically recognise an oven as a device for cooking as opposed to a convenient storage space - or den for newborn puppies? To my mind, this is an effective method of refuting the proposition that Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders are (or were before the coming of the white man) backwards, uncivilised, stupid and lawless. And whatever else, it is refreshing to start from this perspective instead of the perspective which uses the European Australian attitude as the default position.
This was a book I was very pleased to read again, and it is a book I think is a must-read for all Australians.
However, in the spirit of the challenge - and because it is a must-read, and excellent with it - I figured a review would still be worth writing.
Every Secret Thing is written as an account, told by anecdote, of the development of the relationship between the bush mob and the mission mob - the latter have set up the mission somewhere in northern Australia, not too far from a town referred to as Big Joint, with the purpose of Christianising and "civilising" the bush mob.
The various anecdotes tell, humorously, disputes and misunderstandings between the bush mob and the mission mob, and within each, with everyone's flaws exposed and with the joke generally being on the mission mob - at least at first. The kids confound the visiting Bishop with their logic (why would Adam and Eve eat the apple instead of the snake when the snake would taste better?); Augustine and Methuselah outsmart Brother Michael and make off with various livestock in The Brotherhood; Pwomiga gives deliberate, and hilarious, mistranslations in Wurruwataka.
But as the book goes on, the stories become more and more bittersweet. The dark undercurrent which is evident from the beginning, such as oblique references to child sexual abuse, become stronger and more explicit, such as the story of Tapalinga and Perpetua, two members of the Stolen Generations, in The Garden of Eden. And the ending, which I won't spoil, is very black indeed.
We have far too few stories about the mission mob/bush mob interaction from the perspective of the bush mob. What I think is particularly valuable about a book like this is that it treats the bush mob's life pre-mission-mob as the baseline, and the interactions with the intruders, the parts of European culture/industralisation the bush mob accept or reject are explained, and make sense, in that context. For example, if you have always cooked over an open fire, why would you automatically recognise an oven as a device for cooking as opposed to a convenient storage space - or den for newborn puppies? To my mind, this is an effective method of refuting the proposition that Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders are (or were before the coming of the white man) backwards, uncivilised, stupid and lawless. And whatever else, it is refreshing to start from this perspective instead of the perspective which uses the European Australian attitude as the default position.
This was a book I was very pleased to read again, and it is a book I think is a must-read for all Australians.
September 22, 2011
It's a long time since I have read a book that can be so hilariously funny and yet soberingly sad, all within the space of a couple of lines.
Essentially this book is a series of short stories that expose the impact white missionaries had on traditional Aboriginal life in a remote Northern Territory island community. The issues are confronting, but laced with genuine laugh out loud humour, which Marie Munkara cleverly utilises to both entertain, and to sugar-coat some of the shocking human right breaches, making them more palatable to the reader.
The recurring characters fuse the short stories together and create a timeline for the decline in traditional Aboriginal values as the missionaries introduce the white world to the bush mob. As each story presents a new conflict of cultures, so too alcohol, drugs, feral animals, possessions (jealousy) and white attitudes are introduced to the indigenous occupants of the island.
Throughout the book, the underlying theme is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy that half-caste children to Aboriginal mothers be taken away (stolen generations), yet half-caste children to white mothers weren't. Hypocrisy that spreading god's word, also involved sewing his wild oats, introducing vice and spreading disease. Hypocrisy that missionaries who were often escaping their own demons in the white world, spent their lives expousing it's benefits to the indigenous population. And hypocrisy that it was always the young Aboriginal girls at fault when they fell pregnant and gave birth to mixed race children.
This is a truly confronting book. It is one side of a sad story that focuses on the negative impacts and the ineptness and shortcomings of some of the missionaries. It also shows the Aboriginal people to be survivors. In the space of a generation, thousands of years of traditional living and values were thrown into turmoil. That they survived to tell the tale, and even laugh about it is a testament to their spirit. That the story can be presented in such a palatable and even entertaining way is testament to Marie Munkara. Well done on a wonderful book.
Essentially this book is a series of short stories that expose the impact white missionaries had on traditional Aboriginal life in a remote Northern Territory island community. The issues are confronting, but laced with genuine laugh out loud humour, which Marie Munkara cleverly utilises to both entertain, and to sugar-coat some of the shocking human right breaches, making them more palatable to the reader.
The recurring characters fuse the short stories together and create a timeline for the decline in traditional Aboriginal values as the missionaries introduce the white world to the bush mob. As each story presents a new conflict of cultures, so too alcohol, drugs, feral animals, possessions (jealousy) and white attitudes are introduced to the indigenous occupants of the island.
Throughout the book, the underlying theme is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy that half-caste children to Aboriginal mothers be taken away (stolen generations), yet half-caste children to white mothers weren't. Hypocrisy that spreading god's word, also involved sewing his wild oats, introducing vice and spreading disease. Hypocrisy that missionaries who were often escaping their own demons in the white world, spent their lives expousing it's benefits to the indigenous population. And hypocrisy that it was always the young Aboriginal girls at fault when they fell pregnant and gave birth to mixed race children.
This is a truly confronting book. It is one side of a sad story that focuses on the negative impacts and the ineptness and shortcomings of some of the missionaries. It also shows the Aboriginal people to be survivors. In the space of a generation, thousands of years of traditional living and values were thrown into turmoil. That they survived to tell the tale, and even laugh about it is a testament to their spirit. That the story can be presented in such a palatable and even entertaining way is testament to Marie Munkara. Well done on a wonderful book.
December 5, 2021
Well first of all, my cover looks a lot nicer than this one.
Aside from the setting of this novel - a mission somewhere in Arnhem Land - it wasn’t really anything like what I expected. In fact, by the time I got to the end I realised the whole thing was quite an interesting way of presenting the transition of Indigenous communities; from the pre-colonial era, their experience with colonists and eventually the realisation that ways have changed and can never go back. Of course it was all fiction, but exploring the mindsets of various characters was interesting.
However, overall this book wasn’t for me. I just didn’t particularly like the very casual and rather jumpy writing style. There weren’t really any main characters as such. While some were consistently present throughout the novel, it was over a long period of time and each chapter would focus on different experiences and characters, albeit in chronological order.
One other thing I appreciated was the inclusion of Language (with translations) in the form of names or words, which made the setting feel more real.
Aside from the setting of this novel - a mission somewhere in Arnhem Land - it wasn’t really anything like what I expected. In fact, by the time I got to the end I realised the whole thing was quite an interesting way of presenting the transition of Indigenous communities; from the pre-colonial era, their experience with colonists and eventually the realisation that ways have changed and can never go back. Of course it was all fiction, but exploring the mindsets of various characters was interesting.
However, overall this book wasn’t for me. I just didn’t particularly like the very casual and rather jumpy writing style. There weren’t really any main characters as such. While some were consistently present throughout the novel, it was over a long period of time and each chapter would focus on different experiences and characters, albeit in chronological order.
One other thing I appreciated was the inclusion of Language (with translations) in the form of names or words, which made the setting feel more real.
July 11, 2012
EVERY SECRET THING was a hard book for me to read because being a Northern Territorian I knew how much of it was based on truth. In an interview Marie revealed that although she changed names many of the stories in the book are based on real tales her uncles and aunties told her; Marie herself is a stolen generation child.
“…And although many people have said that my book Every Secret Thing is profoundly political, I still have difficulty seeing it that way because the issues in the book, like the removal of children, or clergy molesting children in their care, are everyday things for me. As ugly as they are, these things have happened to me and they have happened to members of my family so they fit more within the realms of the personal. But even though it wasn’t my intent to create a political work I can appreciate that others might see it that way…” (http://tinyurl.com/797vukp)
EVERY SECRET THING is a series of interconnecting short stories that tell of the impact of (in this case Catholic) missionaries on an Aboriginal Community. The issues are very confronting with shocking breaches of acceptable behaviour revealed for all to see. These are all the more shameful when you realise that these particular gentle people of God (insert heavy sarcastic laugh here) did what they did with no guilt as they did not consider their charges to be intelligent, or even human. Marie Munkara certainly sugar coated her message with lots of humour but there is utter sadness and anger underlying the laughter. The tragedy of one stolen child in particular just broke my heart as she was taken away from her people, passed on to one white family after another to slave away and be raped by the men of the households from an early age. Then pregnant she is cast out to live on the streets and give birth alone. Another girl finds her way back home only to find she no longer has anything in common with her culture and is overcome with a sense of loss.
However this book is not just about the negative impact of some of the missionaries, not all of them, I am aware of the many wonderful men and women of God who were not like the Catholic mob represented in this book and who were genuine in their faith and in their interactions with their communities. EVERY SECRET THING is also about how the Aboriginal community have been survivors for thousands of years adapting as they need to, and going to great steps to try and retain their connection to their dreamtime, and in this book they soon learn to fight back. There are the little boys who torment one of the Catholic Brothers to complete madness as soon as they realise he is scared of the dark and then there is the wonderful story of the anthropologist – which was a standout story for me. The anthropologist came to study the ‘ways of the natives’ and is assigned to a very canny Aboriginal gentleman who decides to teach the anthropologist rude names for things instead of the real name. The anthropologist is so proud of his ability to learn the language not realising that the Community members are taking the mickey out of him. The Catholic Priest heading the mission is so inspired he uses the words in his Sunday sermon causing his Aboriginal audience to collapse into laughter.
Last week in Australia is was NAIDOC Week (1-8 July 2012) which celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by Australians from all walks of life. The ANZ Lit Lovers ran an Indigenous Literature Week reading challenge in conjunction with NAIDOC week which was to read at least one book written by an Indigenous person. EVERY SECRET THING was the second, and final, book I selected to read.
“…And although many people have said that my book Every Secret Thing is profoundly political, I still have difficulty seeing it that way because the issues in the book, like the removal of children, or clergy molesting children in their care, are everyday things for me. As ugly as they are, these things have happened to me and they have happened to members of my family so they fit more within the realms of the personal. But even though it wasn’t my intent to create a political work I can appreciate that others might see it that way…” (http://tinyurl.com/797vukp)
EVERY SECRET THING is a series of interconnecting short stories that tell of the impact of (in this case Catholic) missionaries on an Aboriginal Community. The issues are very confronting with shocking breaches of acceptable behaviour revealed for all to see. These are all the more shameful when you realise that these particular gentle people of God (insert heavy sarcastic laugh here) did what they did with no guilt as they did not consider their charges to be intelligent, or even human. Marie Munkara certainly sugar coated her message with lots of humour but there is utter sadness and anger underlying the laughter. The tragedy of one stolen child in particular just broke my heart as she was taken away from her people, passed on to one white family after another to slave away and be raped by the men of the households from an early age. Then pregnant she is cast out to live on the streets and give birth alone. Another girl finds her way back home only to find she no longer has anything in common with her culture and is overcome with a sense of loss.
However this book is not just about the negative impact of some of the missionaries, not all of them, I am aware of the many wonderful men and women of God who were not like the Catholic mob represented in this book and who were genuine in their faith and in their interactions with their communities. EVERY SECRET THING is also about how the Aboriginal community have been survivors for thousands of years adapting as they need to, and going to great steps to try and retain their connection to their dreamtime, and in this book they soon learn to fight back. There are the little boys who torment one of the Catholic Brothers to complete madness as soon as they realise he is scared of the dark and then there is the wonderful story of the anthropologist – which was a standout story for me. The anthropologist came to study the ‘ways of the natives’ and is assigned to a very canny Aboriginal gentleman who decides to teach the anthropologist rude names for things instead of the real name. The anthropologist is so proud of his ability to learn the language not realising that the Community members are taking the mickey out of him. The Catholic Priest heading the mission is so inspired he uses the words in his Sunday sermon causing his Aboriginal audience to collapse into laughter.
Last week in Australia is was NAIDOC Week (1-8 July 2012) which celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by Australians from all walks of life. The ANZ Lit Lovers ran an Indigenous Literature Week reading challenge in conjunction with NAIDOC week which was to read at least one book written by an Indigenous person. EVERY SECRET THING was the second, and final, book I selected to read.
July 5, 2023
I found this book very strange indeed. A comedy full of the abuse of Aboriginal communities, boys and women by Catholic priests and nuns. I just don't get it. Clearly there are people who love this book, and who like this type of humour, but I don't like it much at all.
Although I didn't like the humour, I still wanted to read the whole book, because even in the midst of it all, I was learning more about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have coped with what colonisation has done. The point about how the church just expected Aboriginal people to know how to do white things (like use a flushing toilet) was well made, and the story about Marigold / Tapelinga returning to her mother should be required reading! There was just too much making light of sexual abuse for me.
Perhaps it reinforces that all you can do is to laugh and cry.
Although I didn't like the humour, I still wanted to read the whole book, because even in the midst of it all, I was learning more about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have coped with what colonisation has done. The point about how the church just expected Aboriginal people to know how to do white things (like use a flushing toilet) was well made, and the story about Marigold / Tapelinga returning to her mother should be required reading! There was just too much making light of sexual abuse for me.
Perhaps it reinforces that all you can do is to laugh and cry.
January 8, 2018
A must read for every muruntani (white person) going to the territory. This book was hilarious (like laugh out loud like at the two lascivious Spaniards who turn up on the barge to work) but also a sadly realistic portait of the stages of colonisation in top end Australia. Significantly though the book explains so many of the “whys” that white people have about aboriginal people in the top end (that they might be afraid to voice) by explaining how we got here. Awesome book.
August 5, 2021
This is a beautiful, haunting and achingly painful story about the experience of Australians First Nations people and missionaries. This is so beautiful and painfully written with also a good dash of humour. I think this should be essential reading for all Australians.
June 1, 2021
A great read! Entertaining, sometimes funny but also sad. An insight into Aboriginal experience, wicked humour.
November 10, 2022
Wow! Well what a biting, humourous depiction of white do gooders destroying a culture!
This is very well written but harsh! 90 percent
This is very well written but harsh! 90 percent
August 3, 2025
Big truth telling, very funny and very Top End, I loved this.
July 21, 2016
Marie Munkara will be the featured author at June's Avid Reader Bookshop and Cafe Sunday Big Breakfast Bookclub with her new book Ashes and Rivers That Run to the Sea, but before I delve into that one, I wanted to read her debut novel Every Secret Thing, which won the 2008 David Unaipon Award and was published by UQP. I devoured this bold book in one sitting. Every Secret Thing is confronting and thought-provoking, but also bitingly funny in places, and heart-wrenchingly sad in others. It tells the story of an Aboriginal mission in far northern Australia, with the two sides - the Mission Mob and the Bush Mob - battling for territory (both actual land, and the far more evasive territory of minds and souls). The Mission Mob is comprised of the priests and nuns who are trying to convert 'doomed' natives, while the Bush Mob are the local people trying to come to terms with the often bizarre and incomprehensible demands and expectations of the white folks. There are some really witty observations penned here, and also some astute and sad commentary about issues such as 'half-caste' children being forcibly removed to separate locations; the introduction of diseases such as the flu, which decimated native populations; the tragic consequences of alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana; and the enforced servitude of Indigeneous people. But hidden amongst it all is the wicked humour of Marie Munkara as she depicts the fallen halos of the clergy, and their antics and behaviour that now, in hindsight, look comically ridiculous. This book is a conundrum because while it is in many ways a light, irreverant and entertaining read, it is also a stark and brutally honest reminder of the horrors perpetrated against Aboriginal people, often in the name of God or religion. There were several paragraphs scattered throughout the book that to me seemed utterly profound, and most telling of the Indigeneous experience.
May 14, 2012
This wasn't the book I was expecting it to be, but that was because of my personal experience of North East Arnhem Land. And as I thought about it, perhaps all the love for Bapa Sheppy is like the "love" that the Bush Mob had for Fr Macredie in Every Secret Thing. (I don't think it was, but having read this book, I can't discount the possibility.)
Because it wasn't what I expected, I struggled a little initially with the book. But it's written in such an awesome way, this layer of humor covering (and yet revealing) the bitter hurt caused to the Bush mob by the Mission mob. The Mission mob are just so very *stupid*, and yet that's so completely believable. The dumb-ass things said and thought by the priests and the brothers and sisters, the ghastly awful attitude of the Bishop - I hate that it's realistic; I hate that people have behaved so very badly in the name of God; but they did and it is.
Marie Munkara's narrative style is just stunning. Her use of humor and bitterness and laughter and truthtelling grabbed me from the very beginning, and got me through every single moment of "I wish, I wish, I wish..."
I'm sure this was rec'd as a YA book, but I'm not certain that it actually is YA now that I've read it. In a lot of ways it's entirely suitable, and yet there's all that's implied in terms of abuse of the indigenous boys - and women - by the missionary Brothers. But if we're talking YA, then this is stuff kids know. And sure, they'll giggle if they read this at school, but reading about the truth of the Missions, the stupidity and outright horror of what white people did, what Christians did, the harm we caused and the utter nuttiness of whitefella pseudo-superiority in matters of faith and lifestyle...
This needs to be read. The words need to be heard and lived and accepted. And this book is a brilliant piece of that message.
Because it wasn't what I expected, I struggled a little initially with the book. But it's written in such an awesome way, this layer of humor covering (and yet revealing) the bitter hurt caused to the Bush mob by the Mission mob. The Mission mob are just so very *stupid*, and yet that's so completely believable. The dumb-ass things said and thought by the priests and the brothers and sisters, the ghastly awful attitude of the Bishop - I hate that it's realistic; I hate that people have behaved so very badly in the name of God; but they did and it is.
Marie Munkara's narrative style is just stunning. Her use of humor and bitterness and laughter and truthtelling grabbed me from the very beginning, and got me through every single moment of "I wish, I wish, I wish..."
I'm sure this was rec'd as a YA book, but I'm not certain that it actually is YA now that I've read it. In a lot of ways it's entirely suitable, and yet there's all that's implied in terms of abuse of the indigenous boys - and women - by the missionary Brothers. But if we're talking YA, then this is stuff kids know. And sure, they'll giggle if they read this at school, but reading about the truth of the Missions, the stupidity and outright horror of what white people did, what Christians did, the harm we caused and the utter nuttiness of whitefella pseudo-superiority in matters of faith and lifestyle...
This needs to be read. The words need to be heard and lived and accepted. And this book is a brilliant piece of that message.
September 3, 2011
Every Secret Thing is a collection of tales of the Bush Mob and the Mission Mob in Arnhemland, beginning in the early days of missionary activity when the indigenous people did not recognise the threat to their culture. As Munkara tells it, based on the recollection of her friends and family, the Bush Mob initially found the Mission Mob comic, and they thought that they could continue to evade any impact on their way of life by taking only what they wanted from the interlopers. In one ribald, mocking tale after another, the author shows the Bush Mob trading minor irritations for what then looked like advantage to them, and making fun of the pompous intruders who come off worst time after time. The reader is lured into this early part of their story with hilarious slapstick humour, heavy with irony, and laced with biting sarcasm when revealing the extent to which the missionaries sexually abused indigenous women or trampled on cultural practices of which they were profoundly ignorant.
None of the nuns quite knew what to say as they looked at the newborn baby cradled in Mary Magdalene’s arms. The baby, a chubby-cheeked little girl, had been born two days previously in the beach camp and bore a striking resemblance to her mother, except for one thing: the baby was very pale and Mary Magdalene, who was now referred to as Wuninga because she was living back at the camp, was very black. Wuninga had lived her entire fifteen years at the camp and the mission except for regular forays out bush with her family, so that meant that any one of the white men living at the mission was a possible candidate for paternity. That’s if you didn’t count his Most Fecund the Bishop, and his two minders who had visited twice in the last year. (p. 35)
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/04/02/ev...
None of the nuns quite knew what to say as they looked at the newborn baby cradled in Mary Magdalene’s arms. The baby, a chubby-cheeked little girl, had been born two days previously in the beach camp and bore a striking resemblance to her mother, except for one thing: the baby was very pale and Mary Magdalene, who was now referred to as Wuninga because she was living back at the camp, was very black. Wuninga had lived her entire fifteen years at the camp and the mission except for regular forays out bush with her family, so that meant that any one of the white men living at the mission was a possible candidate for paternity. That’s if you didn’t count his Most Fecund the Bishop, and his two minders who had visited twice in the last year. (p. 35)
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/04/02/ev...
July 5, 2016
Look, I just didn't connect with this book: which given the importance of the topic, and the still-far-too-rare experience of having Indigenous voices telling Indigenous stories, was a little disappointing. This is largely, I suspect, a humour style question.
The style - one heavily featuring caricature and a faux simple storytelling voice - has never been a favourite of mine (I loath skit and sketch shows, yes, even Monty Python ones), and in this case, the voices of almost all the characters - bush mob and mission mob - blended into one. The character motivations felt very thin, and often interchangeable within the mobs. There seemed to be an omnipresent stupidity, with the occasional unexplored hint that this may mask a reluctance to confront the immense pain of truth.
There was one key exception - which bumped the review up to three stars - which was the story of Tapalinga's return to the bush mob. The whole chapter, alternating between the eyes of Marigold/Tapalinga and the Bush Mob she is returning too, provides beautifully drawn, incredibly painful, insight into an impossible situation. Suddenly the characters lept off the page fully drawn, and grabbed my attention. This scene, exclusively set among the bush mob, does so much to spell out the horror of the impact of the mission mob, and connected with me deeply enough that I decided to check out Munkara's new non-fiction book.
The style - one heavily featuring caricature and a faux simple storytelling voice - has never been a favourite of mine (I loath skit and sketch shows, yes, even Monty Python ones), and in this case, the voices of almost all the characters - bush mob and mission mob - blended into one. The character motivations felt very thin, and often interchangeable within the mobs. There seemed to be an omnipresent stupidity, with the occasional unexplored hint that this may mask a reluctance to confront the immense pain of truth.
There was one key exception - which bumped the review up to three stars - which was the story of Tapalinga's return to the bush mob. The whole chapter, alternating between the eyes of Marigold/Tapalinga and the Bush Mob she is returning too, provides beautifully drawn, incredibly painful, insight into an impossible situation. Suddenly the characters lept off the page fully drawn, and grabbed my attention. This scene, exclusively set among the bush mob, does so much to spell out the horror of the impact of the mission mob, and connected with me deeply enough that I decided to check out Munkara's new non-fiction book.
October 21, 2011
I have such respect for Marie Munkara. Her book made me laugh so many times, and yet at the end of each short story a sobering fact about the colonisation of Australia would stick with me [and I don't believe I can, or want to, shake it off]. Unlike David Malouf or Thomas Kenneally [who are ironically white Australian writers], Marie doesn't represent Indigenous Australians as victims, but as strong survivors. Also, unlike most white Australian authors writing about Aborigines, Marie does not loose her message in density. She has the freedom to take the whole affair 'light-heartedly' (for lack of a better word), and this lightness in the text makes it easy for both white and Indigenous Australians to read, understand, but most importantly (and I say this, because I am a white Australian)... not feel uncomfortable.
August 8, 2015
Every secret thing was a book club read which I would never have picked off the shelf. When I looked at the cover thought “Yeah right…another must read that will be edifying and politically correct - but predictable.” How wrong was that first impression? Slap the forehead! Never judge a book by its cover!
What a witty tongue in cheek rendition that kept me laughing, emphathising and cringing from the first page.
Such a little book connected by poignant little stories with exceptional insight that seamlessly lead to an aggregate statement on human rights and the Stolen Generation. Marie Munkara is a remarkable story teller; I was firmly entrenched in front of the camp fire; hanging on every word.
Loved the way hypocrisy was so subtly woven into each story. We laugh and yet can’t avoid the intrinsic intent. Loved it!
What a witty tongue in cheek rendition that kept me laughing, emphathising and cringing from the first page.
Such a little book connected by poignant little stories with exceptional insight that seamlessly lead to an aggregate statement on human rights and the Stolen Generation. Marie Munkara is a remarkable story teller; I was firmly entrenched in front of the camp fire; hanging on every word.
Loved the way hypocrisy was so subtly woven into each story. We laugh and yet can’t avoid the intrinsic intent. Loved it!
August 21, 2012
Required reading for my creative writing unit, just blown away by how wonderful this book is. Definitely my favourite of the 7 set books, Munkara's voice is clean and strong, using a gentle humour to shed light on an indigenous perpsective of Australia's stolen generation, and the christian missions determined to turn the 'bush mob' into decent, god-fearing folk. Read it. Read it now.
PS Mira is my favourite story, so much heart and so much sting.
PS Mira is my favourite story, so much heart and so much sting.
April 22, 2016
Beautifully written narrative that traces the changes in the Australian landscape through the interaction of the mission mob and the bush mob. Munkara relies on humour to convey both the helplessness of the indigenous population as well as the routes they sometimes took to undermine their indoctrination.
July 4, 2012
I loved this book - it takes you inside 'wicked' Aboriginal humour. Winner of the 2008 David Unaipon Award.
April 2, 2014
So funny, yet painfully sad at the same time.
March 23, 2015
Hilarious and devastating.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews