Welcome to Country youth edition

by Marcia Langton

‘Australia is alive with the long history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, our cultures and our stories. My generation of Aboriginal people want young Australians to be taught more about our history and culture than we were. I have met very few Australians who learned anything in school about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Many have told me that if they were taught anything at all, it was incorrect and often racist. In fact, many Australians think that the only ‘real’ Aboriginal people are those who live in the deserts. This idea is based on two centuries of racist views that were wrong and should have no place in modern Australia.’ – Professor Marcia Langton

Written by one of Australia’s most prominent Indigenous voices, Welcome to Country is essential reading for every young Australian. The chapters cover prehistory, post-colonial history, language, kinship, knowledge, art, performance, storytelling, Native Title, the Stolen Generations, making a rightful place for First Australians and looking to the future for Indigenous Australia. This book is for the new Australian generations and works towards rectifying the wrongs of this country’s past. You will quickly appreciate how lucky we are to be the home of the world’s oldest continuing civilisation – which is both diverse and thriving in Australia today.

Cover artwork New Roocruits by Archibald-finalist Blak Douglas.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Australia

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2019

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fake news, and fake versions of history, are powerful, corrosive and destructive – and are intended to be.
Nowadays, we're usually pretty aware that fake news is out there, and we try to build that awareness and information literacy into our children’s lives and education as well – because we’re all constantly vulnerable to fake news, social manipulation and propaganda. But what I think we're only slowly awakening to in Australia, is that from the time of the arrival of European explorers and settlers, that their take on history and on our First Peoples has been prejudiced, uninformed, manipulative and malevolent. Their misinformation, outright lies, judgements and thirst for power mean that this fake news and fake history has set like concrete into the records of our European settlement history. Even early published ‘factual’ books on First Australians, held so much false information – which spread throughout the world, and over time, to this day. Governments perpetuated unrelenting, atrocious racial injustices, that tore First Australians, their families, communities and cultures, apart. It is only when scientists, researchers and authors have revealed primary sources of authentic, accurate records and culture, that the contrast between real and fake information has emerged. The overturning of the doctrine of Terra Nullius is a prime example of that – but it hasn’t been a blanket solution. Professor Langton has many, many examples, which she presents with relevant sources/credits, often with an indication of the repair/restoration/creativity that our First Australian cultures and peoples are enacting today, in their lives and in the community around them. As she rightly states in her conclusion, we need to be aware, we need to acknowledge, and we need to take action, because this is a part of all of our lives, whether indigenous or not. The 2019 NAIDOC theme, ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’ is a compelling call to us all. This is an important book and well worth reading.

[Steven Kolber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible, engaging and precise - rich with the small personal touches that make non-fiction like this engaging

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important reference book, designed for young people. It contains important information in clear, concise language. Lots of questions will be answered here.

My only quarrel was with the ordering and organising of the brief articles which did not seem to me instinctive. It does have an excellent index, which is how I would navigate my way around. I’d have preferred a single narrative holding it together.

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: racism, Stolen Generations, colonialism, genocide.

3.5 stars.

So here's the thing: I feel like if I'd read the adult version of this book, I would have rated it much higher than I have the young readers edition. Because it's SUCH important subject matter, and I love that the adult version approaches it like a travel guide to Indigenous Australia.

In contrast, for a young readers edition, this is VERY dry and academic a lot of the time. It deals with very important subjects that Australia's youth need to be aware of, including the Stolen Generations, Native Title, Indigenous society, and so on. But the writing frequently felt like picking up a textbook.

I think the artists and authors and musicians that Langton discusses are definitely important but it would have been fantastic to see attention given to young Indigenous musicians and artists, and a focus on Aboriginal YA authors like Ambelin Kwaymullina or Jared Thomas given that the intended audience is Australia's youth.

So while I appreciate that the subject matter is INCREDIBLY important, I was left with the overall impression that this...kind of missed the mark where the intended audience is concerned, and I'm sad that I didn't love this the way I expected to.

[Tessa Wooldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Australia is a country ‘alive with the long history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, our cultures and our stories’, says Marcia Langton, reminding us that ‘the vast majority of human history on this continent [Australia] is that of the First peoples’.

Langton, who has held the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne since 2000, begins her book with prehistory and the arrival of small populations of humans on the Australian continent. Other chapters cover post-colonial history (including massacres), language, kinship, cultural and artistic practices, native title and the Stolen Generations.

Welcome to Country includes a wide range of photographs, illustrations and diagrams. There is also a glossary (explaining terms like Dreaming, Makarrata and terra nullius), a list of references and further resources.

For more Australian Indigenous history books for children, see my blog post on this theme: https://tessawooldridge.com/2020/10/0...

[Eleni]

This book is a fantastic introduction for children in order to learn the true history of Aboriginal people, from their culture and customs, to festivals and traditions, and so much more.
Marcia Langton is able to simply explain some very complex ideas and write them in a way that is extremely accessible to children, yet still enjoyable for adults. This book touched on numerous topics that opens up conversations and ideas and hopefully will encourage younger generations to want to explore and learn more about all aspects of Indigenous heritage both historically and in present day.

I don't feel comfortable giving this book a star rating, because its purpose was to inform, not entertain. I don't want to give a non-fiction book which well articulates Indigenous culture and successfully informs the reader of customs and traditions they may not be aware of. However, I think its important to note I thoroughly enjoyed this and my rating would be high nonetheless.

I am very thankful for people like Marcia Langton who have taken the time to try and educate non-indigenous Australians.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book packed with information and I was happy to treat it like a cultural textbook on modern Indigenous Australians. Being textbook-like, it was pretty dry and factual. I could not read it in one setting and it took me weeks to get through.
I preferred the ebook edition as it contained coloured pictures, while the paperback edition had black and white pictures.
As I read it, I felt proud for First Nations people- happiness and respect for their achievements in history and in modern day.

[Ben KR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and cultures for young readers.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an approachable and enlightening book - I wish I’d read it before I became Australian.

[Madilina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The key phrase is in the title - 'An introduction ...' . A quick and very informative read. A useful reference book to have on one's home bookshelf.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing this review a little early as the writing style is unlikely to change -

A very solid 3/5. An informative book but that's not always necessarily an interesting read.

The writing is very reminiscent of a textbook in many regards, which is fine if this is intended to be a reference material. If it is, it's a relatively effective one as the organisation of the book makes it easy enough to find what specific information you're looking for and I felt the information presented was fairly thorough. Welcome To Country definitely will teach you something, I'm confident of saying that regardless of someone's background.

Perhaps as an extension of feeling like a textbook, the general tone and writing of this book is incredibly dry. Sometimes, this felt entirely appropriate as it's difficult to discuss things such as the implications and significance of legal recognition in a way that isn't spending time telling the reader how property law or Native Title work, for example. However, feeling as though the chapters about art and performance that represent both present culture and some 65,000 years of human history were entirely uninspiring left me feeling like the writing style really missed the mark. This stood out to me particularly with the 'youth edition' label as while a lot of what the book covers is important and may not necessarily be covered thoroughly in schools, I don't feel the writing would really interest the average young person reading outside of being presented to them in lesson time.

I don't think I'd actively steer anyone away from picking this up if they have a genuine interest in what it covers, though. Definitely expect to treat it like a textbook despite being published by under a travel label though!

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended.