What inspired you to write Edenglassie?

I was inspired by knowing that the great Australian silence around Aboriginal lives continues. Also by the Reminiscences of Tom Petrie, an early Scottish pioneer of SE Queensland who spoke fluent Yagara language and was an initiate who understood Aboriginal life and religion intimately. I wondered what our history might have been if there’d been more Tom Petries.

What were the most challenging and enlightening aspects of writing your book?

The most challenging was portraying a character who was young, male, and tribal when I’m none of those things, or not really. That took a great deal of work and research. The second most challenging was getting the history right, or right enough to keep the reactionary historians at bay.

In what ways do you think the characters in Edenglassie might be empowering figures for women and young girls?

Simply to show the humanity of a young Goori woman like Nita in the 1850s is to radically undermine racist stereotypes. Nita has a name, she has love and opinions and ambitions, and that’s a list of qualities which very few Aboriginal characters in colonial fiction have ever had. In the modern era, Winona has the same qualities but also rage and acute political insight. Very necessary for the survival and thriving of young Blak women today!

How do you think literature helps to shape our understanding of ourselves and others?

Narrative is the only way we can understand ourselves and the world. Put simply, without stories all we are is meat.

What was the most recent book you’ve read about women or girls that moved you?

I loved Tony Birch’s latest novel Women and Girls, told with Tony’s trademark tenderness aligned with intelligence. I also like Winnie Dunn’s Dirt Poor Islanders very much.