In June, First Nations Australia and New Zealand opened the ANZ Festival in London with cultural productions prior to the first feature of Tim Winton’s interview. The participants, Ali Cobby Eckerman, Anita Heiss, and Bruce Pascoe took part in over 16 events and the reception to our writing was very enthusiastic. Book sales were encouraging and the range of our events ranged from discussions of feminist literature, black/white history, poetry, novels, teenage fiction and fantasy.
While Anita took part in the Great Debate, Ali and Bruce visited the gravetsone of Yammerayanyea at Eltham with the young Murri bass player, Andrew Story, who performed with Ruthless Jabiru in a tribute to oodgeroo Noonuccal in The Chapel.
They also participated in a session where an English author was presenting his novel based on the Aboriginal cricket team which visited London in the early 1800s. They asked him why he had not contacted the descendants of those men as part of his research. His answer was that the time difference between Australia and England prevent him!