Every Hill Got a Story

by Men and Women of Central Australia and the Central Land Council, Marg Bowman (Editor)

Every hill got a story is the first comprehensive history of Central Australia’s Aboriginal people, as told in their own words and many languages.

Nyinanyi ngurangka – being on country – is not a ‘lifestyle choice’ but a hard-won right, a spiritual and cultural duty, a constant battle, a source of happiness and opportunity and the meaning of life all at the same time.

In this heartbreaking, funny and poignant collection, 127 eminent men and women remember surviving first contact, massacres and forced removals and resisting more than a century of top-down government policies. Their testimonies, some available as audio sound bites, paint an unflinchingly honest picture of life and work on the missions, cattle stations and fringes of towns. They speak eloquently of their struggle for self-determination and basic citizen rights. The storytellers also celebrate winning back ownership of more than 410,000 square kilometres of their ancestral lands.

Key to this achievement, and deeply entwined with the lives of the storytellers and their families, is the Central Land Council. It is a Commonwealth statutory authority governed by 90 elected Aboriginal representatives. The CLC has protected the interests of Aboriginal people in the southern half of the Northern Territory since 1975 against ongoing threats to their rights. It supports them to manage their land and to use income from it to strengthen their communities and to achieve their social, cultural and economic aspirations.

Through the CLC, the people and the land tell us of country where every hill got a story.

For more information about the CLC and the oral history project that became Every hill got a story visit www.clc.org.au.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary book, and if there was one book that I could get every Australian to read this year, it would be this one. Based on hundreds of oral histories, the book takes you through history, geography, theology, law and an understanding of country through the words of Aboriginal people of Central Australia. Honestly, I have no idea how to describe these excerpts. They cover a wide range of topics, and various viewpoints (although, not, I noticed, viewpoints critical of the CLC). The power is in giving voices to those who are so rarely heard, even when discussing their country, their health, their culture and their lives.
I have long respected the power of oral histories, but have read few things that illustrate it well. When written down, so much of the power of the voiced story is lost. By piling the excerpts together, this book slowly captures rhythm and cadance, not meeting the richness of listening, but getting closer to it than I would have thought. Vocal excerpts are also available on the website.
The book is not perfect - there are perspectives missing, and some topics, including the land rights movement and native title, are covered in such quick fire ways as to lack significant insight, but the experience is rich and unsettling, with the sensation that when everything settles maybe the world will look slightly different. It's awful, really, that we have so few opportunities to listen to Australia's first peoples. It would be a shame to miss this one.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning compilation from the women and men of the CLC. Wish I had read it sooner