id stringlengths 1 5 | contents stringlengths 354 1.98k |
|---|---|
20400 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
: Marshawn Lynch kicking it with Barry Sanders in a pre-game segment. This is what you love to see. It looks like two legends can co-exist.
7:40 p.m.: Aaron Jones' return should offer Love a much-needed reprieve. Green Bay's run game hasn't been all that effective thus far — the Pack are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry so far this year. But Jones is a dynamic force coming out of the backfield, someone capable of carrying an offense on his back for large portions of a game. That's a young QB's dream.
7:30 p.m.: Jordan Love and the Packers heading onto the field ahed of tonight's game! We're about 45 minutes from kickoff at the Pantheon of football excellence, Lambeau Field.
Lions vs. Packers start time
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28
Thursday, Sept. 28 Start time: 8:15 p.m. |
20401 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
This is what you love to see. It looks like two legends can co-exist.
7:40 p.m.: Aaron Jones' return should offer Love a much-needed reprieve. Green Bay's run game hasn't been all that effective thus far — the Pack are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry so far this year. But Jones is a dynamic force coming out of the backfield, someone capable of carrying an offense on his back for large portions of a game. That's a young QB's dream.
7:30 p.m.: Jordan Love and the Packers heading onto the field ahed of tonight's game! We're about 45 minutes from kickoff at the Pantheon of football excellence, Lambeau Field.
Lions vs. Packers start time
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28
Thursday, Sept. 28 Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Thursday night's game between the Lions and Packers will feature in the primetime slot of 8:15 p.m. |
20402 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
7:40 p.m.: Aaron Jones' return should offer Love a much-needed reprieve. Green Bay's run game hasn't been all that effective thus far — the Pack are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry so far this year. But Jones is a dynamic force coming out of the backfield, someone capable of carrying an offense on his back for large portions of a game. That's a young QB's dream.
7:30 p.m.: Jordan Love and the Packers heading onto the field ahed of tonight's game! We're about 45 minutes from kickoff at the Pantheon of football excellence, Lambeau Field.
Lions vs. Packers start time
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28
Thursday, Sept. 28 Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Thursday night's game between the Lions and Packers will feature in the primetime slot of 8:15 p.m. ET.
What channel is Lions vs. |
20403 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
Green Bay's run game hasn't been all that effective thus far — the Pack are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry so far this year. But Jones is a dynamic force coming out of the backfield, someone capable of carrying an offense on his back for large portions of a game. That's a young QB's dream.
7:30 p.m.: Jordan Love and the Packers heading onto the field ahed of tonight's game! We're about 45 minutes from kickoff at the Pantheon of football excellence, Lambeau Field.
Lions vs. Packers start time
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28
Thursday, Sept. 28 Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Thursday night's game between the Lions and Packers will feature in the primetime slot of 8:15 p.m. ET.
What channel is Lions vs. Packers on today? |
20404 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
Green Bay's run game hasn't been all that effective thus far — the Pack are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry so far this year. But Jones is a dynamic force coming out of the backfield, someone capable of carrying an offense on his back for large portions of a game. That's a young QB's dream.
7:30 p.m.: Jordan Love and the Packers heading onto the field ahed of tonight's game! We're about 45 minutes from kickoff at the Pantheon of football excellence, Lambeau Field.
Lions vs. Packers start time
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28
Thursday, Sept. 28 Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Thursday night's game between the Lions and Packers will feature in the primetime slot of 8:15 p.m. ET.
What channel is Lions vs. Packers on today?
Game: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers Date: Thursday, September 28
Thursday, September 28 TV channel (Detroit) : WJBK (Channel 2)
: WJBK (Channel 2) TV channel (Green Bay) : WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26)
: WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26) Live stream: Amazon Prime Video | DAZN (in Canada)
For the masses of NFL fans across the U.S., Thursday's clash between the Lions and Packers will be aired on Amazon Prime Video. |
20405 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
28
Thursday, Sept. 28 Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Thursday night's game between the Lions and Packers will feature in the primetime slot of 8:15 p.m. ET.
What channel is Lions vs. Packers on today?
Game: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers Date: Thursday, September 28
Thursday, September 28 TV channel (Detroit) : WJBK (Channel 2)
: WJBK (Channel 2) TV channel (Green Bay) : WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26)
: WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26) Live stream: Amazon Prime Video | DAZN (in Canada)
For the masses of NFL fans across the U.S., Thursday's clash between the Lions and Packers will be aired on Amazon Prime Video. The broadcast will be spearheaded by legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. |
20406 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
ET
Thursday night's game between the Lions and Packers will feature in the primetime slot of 8:15 p.m. ET.
What channel is Lions vs. Packers on today?
Game: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers Date: Thursday, September 28
Thursday, September 28 TV channel (Detroit) : WJBK (Channel 2)
: WJBK (Channel 2) TV channel (Green Bay) : WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26)
: WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26) Live stream: Amazon Prime Video | DAZN (in Canada)
For the masses of NFL fans across the U.S., Thursday's clash between the Lions and Packers will be aired on Amazon Prime Video. The broadcast will be spearheaded by legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. He'll be joined by longtime ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit, who will offer occasional musings as an analyst. |
20407 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
ET.
What channel is Lions vs. Packers on today?
Game: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers Date: Thursday, September 28
Thursday, September 28 TV channel (Detroit) : WJBK (Channel 2)
: WJBK (Channel 2) TV channel (Green Bay) : WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26)
: WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26) Live stream: Amazon Prime Video | DAZN (in Canada)
For the masses of NFL fans across the U.S., Thursday's clash between the Lions and Packers will be aired on Amazon Prime Video. The broadcast will be spearheaded by legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. He'll be joined by longtime ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit, who will offer occasional musings as an analyst. Sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung will offer updates throughout the affair. |
20408 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
Packers on today?
Game: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers Date: Thursday, September 28
Thursday, September 28 TV channel (Detroit) : WJBK (Channel 2)
: WJBK (Channel 2) TV channel (Green Bay) : WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26)
: WITI (Channel 6) or WGBA (Channel 26) Live stream: Amazon Prime Video | DAZN (in Canada)
For the masses of NFL fans across the U.S., Thursday's clash between the Lions and Packers will be aired on Amazon Prime Video. The broadcast will be spearheaded by legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. He'll be joined by longtime ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit, who will offer occasional musings as an analyst. Sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung will offer updates throughout the affair.
Fans in the Detroit and Green Bay markets can watch the Amazon broadcast over the air on local channels. |
20409 | Lions vs. Packers live score, updates, highlights from NFL 'Thursday Night Football' game
The broadcast will be spearheaded by legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. He'll be joined by longtime ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit, who will offer occasional musings as an analyst. Sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung will offer updates throughout the affair.
Fans in the Detroit and Green Bay markets can watch the Amazon broadcast over the air on local channels.
Those in Canada can stream it on DAZN, which carries every NFL game all season. |
20410 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the Good Weekend October 7 edition. See all 15 stories . Melissa Lucashenko, the only person ever to have won both the Miles Franklin Literary Award and TV’s Millionaire Hot Seat, is struggling to concentrate. We’re sitting on the back terrace of the Avid Reader bookstore in Brisbane’s West End, drinking coffee in the late-winter warmth, which even in August is hinting at humidity. We’re shaded by a fig tree, which bursts with bird life. To me, it feels lush and subtropical. Peaceful even. But Lucashenko is distracted by a particular bird that’s dropping fig rubble all over us. “Sorry, that bloody bird is really annoying me, that’s a pest bird,” she says, breaking off our conversation. |
20411 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the Good Weekend October 7 edition. See all 15 stories . Melissa Lucashenko, the only person ever to have won both the Miles Franklin Literary Award and TV’s Millionaire Hot Seat, is struggling to concentrate. We’re sitting on the back terrace of the Avid Reader bookstore in Brisbane’s West End, drinking coffee in the late-winter warmth, which even in August is hinting at humidity. We’re shaded by a fig tree, which bursts with bird life. To me, it feels lush and subtropical. Peaceful even. But Lucashenko is distracted by a particular bird that’s dropping fig rubble all over us. “Sorry, that bloody bird is really annoying me, that’s a pest bird,” she says, breaking off our conversation. “Indian mynas, I hate ’em.” That the Indian myna is an import – introduced to Australia in the 1860s – seems apt. |
20412 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
See all 15 stories . Melissa Lucashenko, the only person ever to have won both the Miles Franklin Literary Award and TV’s Millionaire Hot Seat, is struggling to concentrate. We’re sitting on the back terrace of the Avid Reader bookstore in Brisbane’s West End, drinking coffee in the late-winter warmth, which even in August is hinting at humidity. We’re shaded by a fig tree, which bursts with bird life. To me, it feels lush and subtropical. Peaceful even. But Lucashenko is distracted by a particular bird that’s dropping fig rubble all over us. “Sorry, that bloody bird is really annoying me, that’s a pest bird,” she says, breaking off our conversation. “Indian mynas, I hate ’em.” That the Indian myna is an import – introduced to Australia in the 1860s – seems apt. We’d been deep in discussion about colonial Brisbane, the hanging of the Aboriginal resistance fighter Dundalli, and the gestation of Lucashenko’s new novel, Edenglassie, published last week by University of Queensland Press. |
20413 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
We’re sitting on the back terrace of the Avid Reader bookstore in Brisbane’s West End, drinking coffee in the late-winter warmth, which even in August is hinting at humidity. We’re shaded by a fig tree, which bursts with bird life. To me, it feels lush and subtropical. Peaceful even. But Lucashenko is distracted by a particular bird that’s dropping fig rubble all over us. “Sorry, that bloody bird is really annoying me, that’s a pest bird,” she says, breaking off our conversation. “Indian mynas, I hate ’em.” That the Indian myna is an import – introduced to Australia in the 1860s – seems apt. We’d been deep in discussion about colonial Brisbane, the hanging of the Aboriginal resistance fighter Dundalli, and the gestation of Lucashenko’s new novel, Edenglassie, published last week by University of Queensland Press. It’s a historical epic which depicts the fascinating period in Brisbane’s history when the former penal colony was morphing into a settler town, and Aboriginal people still outnumbered white colonists. |
20414 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
We’re shaded by a fig tree, which bursts with bird life. To me, it feels lush and subtropical. Peaceful even. But Lucashenko is distracted by a particular bird that’s dropping fig rubble all over us. “Sorry, that bloody bird is really annoying me, that’s a pest bird,” she says, breaking off our conversation. “Indian mynas, I hate ’em.” That the Indian myna is an import – introduced to Australia in the 1860s – seems apt. We’d been deep in discussion about colonial Brisbane, the hanging of the Aboriginal resistance fighter Dundalli, and the gestation of Lucashenko’s new novel, Edenglassie, published last week by University of Queensland Press. It’s a historical epic which depicts the fascinating period in Brisbane’s history when the former penal colony was morphing into a settler town, and Aboriginal people still outnumbered white colonists. In the book (named after Brisbane’s early moniker), the two groups coexist uneasily at the Queensland frontier, their interactions defined by mutual curiosity and suspicion, economic co-dependence and outbreaks of violence. |
20415 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“Sorry, that bloody bird is really annoying me, that’s a pest bird,” she says, breaking off our conversation. “Indian mynas, I hate ’em.” That the Indian myna is an import – introduced to Australia in the 1860s – seems apt. We’d been deep in discussion about colonial Brisbane, the hanging of the Aboriginal resistance fighter Dundalli, and the gestation of Lucashenko’s new novel, Edenglassie, published last week by University of Queensland Press. It’s a historical epic which depicts the fascinating period in Brisbane’s history when the former penal colony was morphing into a settler town, and Aboriginal people still outnumbered white colonists. In the book (named after Brisbane’s early moniker), the two groups coexist uneasily at the Queensland frontier, their interactions defined by mutual curiosity and suspicion, economic co-dependence and outbreaks of violence. “I’d wanted to write a novel of colonial Brisbane for a very long time, since I read Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland,” Lucashenko says, having refocused after the myna interruption. |
20416 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
We’d been deep in discussion about colonial Brisbane, the hanging of the Aboriginal resistance fighter Dundalli, and the gestation of Lucashenko’s new novel, Edenglassie, published last week by University of Queensland Press. It’s a historical epic which depicts the fascinating period in Brisbane’s history when the former penal colony was morphing into a settler town, and Aboriginal people still outnumbered white colonists. In the book (named after Brisbane’s early moniker), the two groups coexist uneasily at the Queensland frontier, their interactions defined by mutual curiosity and suspicion, economic co-dependence and outbreaks of violence. “I’d wanted to write a novel of colonial Brisbane for a very long time, since I read Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland,” Lucashenko says, having refocused after the myna interruption. “It is so full of stories and insights into the colonial era that as a novelist I just went, ‘Wow. |
20417 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It’s a historical epic which depicts the fascinating period in Brisbane’s history when the former penal colony was morphing into a settler town, and Aboriginal people still outnumbered white colonists. In the book (named after Brisbane’s early moniker), the two groups coexist uneasily at the Queensland frontier, their interactions defined by mutual curiosity and suspicion, economic co-dependence and outbreaks of violence. “I’d wanted to write a novel of colonial Brisbane for a very long time, since I read Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland,” Lucashenko says, having refocused after the myna interruption. “It is so full of stories and insights into the colonial era that as a novelist I just went, ‘Wow. This is begging to be fictionalised.’ ” Edenglassie had a long gestation. |
20418 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It’s a historical epic which depicts the fascinating period in Brisbane’s history when the former penal colony was morphing into a settler town, and Aboriginal people still outnumbered white colonists. In the book (named after Brisbane’s early moniker), the two groups coexist uneasily at the Queensland frontier, their interactions defined by mutual curiosity and suspicion, economic co-dependence and outbreaks of violence. “I’d wanted to write a novel of colonial Brisbane for a very long time, since I read Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland,” Lucashenko says, having refocused after the myna interruption. “It is so full of stories and insights into the colonial era that as a novelist I just went, ‘Wow. This is begging to be fictionalised.’ ” Edenglassie had a long gestation. It was back in the 1990s that Lucashenko devoured Reminiscences, a 1904 classic that records the memories of the great Queensland pioneer Petrie, a Scottish-born explorer, gold prospector, logger and grazier who lived in the Moreton Bay penal colony, subsequently Brisbane, from 1831 to 1910. |
20419 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“I’d wanted to write a novel of colonial Brisbane for a very long time, since I read Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland,” Lucashenko says, having refocused after the myna interruption. “It is so full of stories and insights into the colonial era that as a novelist I just went, ‘Wow. This is begging to be fictionalised.’ ” Edenglassie had a long gestation. It was back in the 1990s that Lucashenko devoured Reminiscences, a 1904 classic that records the memories of the great Queensland pioneer Petrie, a Scottish-born explorer, gold prospector, logger and grazier who lived in the Moreton Bay penal colony, subsequently Brisbane, from 1831 to 1910. The book embedded itself in her consciousness and stayed there for the ensuing decades, as she moved to different homes over the east coast and overseas, as she wove through marriage and divorce, and navigated the challenges of having young children, and the challenges of having grown children, and the torture and exhilaration of writing through it all. |
20420 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“It is so full of stories and insights into the colonial era that as a novelist I just went, ‘Wow. This is begging to be fictionalised.’ ” Edenglassie had a long gestation. It was back in the 1990s that Lucashenko devoured Reminiscences, a 1904 classic that records the memories of the great Queensland pioneer Petrie, a Scottish-born explorer, gold prospector, logger and grazier who lived in the Moreton Bay penal colony, subsequently Brisbane, from 1831 to 1910. The book embedded itself in her consciousness and stayed there for the ensuing decades, as she moved to different homes over the east coast and overseas, as she wove through marriage and divorce, and navigated the challenges of having young children, and the challenges of having grown children, and the torture and exhilaration of writing through it all. Loading “I just had this vague awareness that I should be living in Brisbane to write this book,” she says now, firmly in Brisbane, which is verdant and infested with aforementioned noisy wildlife. |
20421 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It was back in the 1990s that Lucashenko devoured Reminiscences, a 1904 classic that records the memories of the great Queensland pioneer Petrie, a Scottish-born explorer, gold prospector, logger and grazier who lived in the Moreton Bay penal colony, subsequently Brisbane, from 1831 to 1910. The book embedded itself in her consciousness and stayed there for the ensuing decades, as she moved to different homes over the east coast and overseas, as she wove through marriage and divorce, and navigated the challenges of having young children, and the challenges of having grown children, and the torture and exhilaration of writing through it all. Loading “I just had this vague awareness that I should be living in Brisbane to write this book,” she says now, firmly in Brisbane, which is verdant and infested with aforementioned noisy wildlife. “Because it’s very different to write a book when you’re walking the streets every day and looking at the river every week, than trying to do it at a distance.” She’s dressed casually in a T-shirt and trousers, finished off with borrowed thongs (her shoes were stolen from her house this morning). |
20422 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The book embedded itself in her consciousness and stayed there for the ensuing decades, as she moved to different homes over the east coast and overseas, as she wove through marriage and divorce, and navigated the challenges of having young children, and the challenges of having grown children, and the torture and exhilaration of writing through it all. Loading “I just had this vague awareness that I should be living in Brisbane to write this book,” she says now, firmly in Brisbane, which is verdant and infested with aforementioned noisy wildlife. “Because it’s very different to write a book when you’re walking the streets every day and looking at the river every week, than trying to do it at a distance.” She’s dressed casually in a T-shirt and trousers, finished off with borrowed thongs (her shoes were stolen from her house this morning). Her eyes are brown, expressive and kind, but she’s wary of too many personal questions.
Advertisement
Later, I look up Reminiscences, which I’ve never read. |
20423 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Loading “I just had this vague awareness that I should be living in Brisbane to write this book,” she says now, firmly in Brisbane, which is verdant and infested with aforementioned noisy wildlife. “Because it’s very different to write a book when you’re walking the streets every day and looking at the river every week, than trying to do it at a distance.” She’s dressed casually in a T-shirt and trousers, finished off with borrowed thongs (her shoes were stolen from her house this morning). Her eyes are brown, expressive and kind, but she’s wary of too many personal questions.
Advertisement
Later, I look up Reminiscences, which I’ve never read. It was written by Thomas’ daughter Constance Petrie, who states of her father that “no one now living knows more from personal experience of the ways and habits of the Queensland aborigines. |
20424 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Loading “I just had this vague awareness that I should be living in Brisbane to write this book,” she says now, firmly in Brisbane, which is verdant and infested with aforementioned noisy wildlife. “Because it’s very different to write a book when you’re walking the streets every day and looking at the river every week, than trying to do it at a distance.” She’s dressed casually in a T-shirt and trousers, finished off with borrowed thongs (her shoes were stolen from her house this morning). Her eyes are brown, expressive and kind, but she’s wary of too many personal questions.
Advertisement
Later, I look up Reminiscences, which I’ve never read. It was written by Thomas’ daughter Constance Petrie, who states of her father that “no one now living knows more from personal experience of the ways and habits of the Queensland aborigines. [His] experiences amongst these fast-dying-out people are unique, and the reminiscences of his early life in this colony should be recorded.” These fast-dying-out people: Lucashenko is one of them. |
20425 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“Because it’s very different to write a book when you’re walking the streets every day and looking at the river every week, than trying to do it at a distance.” She’s dressed casually in a T-shirt and trousers, finished off with borrowed thongs (her shoes were stolen from her house this morning). Her eyes are brown, expressive and kind, but she’s wary of too many personal questions.
Advertisement
Later, I look up Reminiscences, which I’ve never read. It was written by Thomas’ daughter Constance Petrie, who states of her father that “no one now living knows more from personal experience of the ways and habits of the Queensland aborigines. [His] experiences amongst these fast-dying-out people are unique, and the reminiscences of his early life in this colony should be recorded.” These fast-dying-out people: Lucashenko is one of them. The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. |
20426 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Her eyes are brown, expressive and kind, but she’s wary of too many personal questions.
Advertisement
Later, I look up Reminiscences, which I’ve never read. It was written by Thomas’ daughter Constance Petrie, who states of her father that “no one now living knows more from personal experience of the ways and habits of the Queensland aborigines. [His] experiences amongst these fast-dying-out people are unique, and the reminiscences of his early life in this colony should be recorded.” These fast-dying-out people: Lucashenko is one of them. The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. When Melissa Lucashenko was awarded the Miles Franklin in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip, the judges called it “a novel of celebratory defiance”. |
20427 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Her eyes are brown, expressive and kind, but she’s wary of too many personal questions.
Advertisement
Later, I look up Reminiscences, which I’ve never read. It was written by Thomas’ daughter Constance Petrie, who states of her father that “no one now living knows more from personal experience of the ways and habits of the Queensland aborigines. [His] experiences amongst these fast-dying-out people are unique, and the reminiscences of his early life in this colony should be recorded.” These fast-dying-out people: Lucashenko is one of them. The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. When Melissa Lucashenko was awarded the Miles Franklin in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip, the judges called it “a novel of celebratory defiance”. The novelist’s first reaction to news of her win was “Bugger me dead!“, which neatly sums her up as a writer: unpretentious, frank and on easy terms with vernacular. |
20428 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It was written by Thomas’ daughter Constance Petrie, who states of her father that “no one now living knows more from personal experience of the ways and habits of the Queensland aborigines. [His] experiences amongst these fast-dying-out people are unique, and the reminiscences of his early life in this colony should be recorded.” These fast-dying-out people: Lucashenko is one of them. The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. When Melissa Lucashenko was awarded the Miles Franklin in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip, the judges called it “a novel of celebratory defiance”. The novelist’s first reaction to news of her win was “Bugger me dead!“, which neatly sums her up as a writer: unpretentious, frank and on easy terms with vernacular. The 56-year-old is a thoroughly contemporary novelist who uses Aboriginal language liberally in her work, and who depicts modern Aboriginal life with urgency and humour. |
20429 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
[His] experiences amongst these fast-dying-out people are unique, and the reminiscences of his early life in this colony should be recorded.” These fast-dying-out people: Lucashenko is one of them. The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. When Melissa Lucashenko was awarded the Miles Franklin in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip, the judges called it “a novel of celebratory defiance”. The novelist’s first reaction to news of her win was “Bugger me dead!“, which neatly sums her up as a writer: unpretentious, frank and on easy terms with vernacular. The 56-year-old is a thoroughly contemporary novelist who uses Aboriginal language liberally in her work, and who depicts modern Aboriginal life with urgency and humour. “That was really the impetus for this book, to say, ‘This is what was, and we’ve survived it,’ ” she tells me. |
20430 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. When Melissa Lucashenko was awarded the Miles Franklin in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip, the judges called it “a novel of celebratory defiance”. The novelist’s first reaction to news of her win was “Bugger me dead!“, which neatly sums her up as a writer: unpretentious, frank and on easy terms with vernacular. The 56-year-old is a thoroughly contemporary novelist who uses Aboriginal language liberally in her work, and who depicts modern Aboriginal life with urgency and humour. “That was really the impetus for this book, to say, ‘This is what was, and we’ve survived it,’ ” she tells me. Lucashenko receiving the Miles Franklin award in 2019. |
20431 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The writing of Edenglassie might have been inspired by this fascinating historical text but its existence also represents a giant f--- you to it. When Melissa Lucashenko was awarded the Miles Franklin in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip, the judges called it “a novel of celebratory defiance”. The novelist’s first reaction to news of her win was “Bugger me dead!“, which neatly sums her up as a writer: unpretentious, frank and on easy terms with vernacular. The 56-year-old is a thoroughly contemporary novelist who uses Aboriginal language liberally in her work, and who depicts modern Aboriginal life with urgency and humour. “That was really the impetus for this book, to say, ‘This is what was, and we’ve survived it,’ ” she tells me. Lucashenko receiving the Miles Franklin award in 2019. Credit: AAP In the historical part of the novel, set in the 1850s, Lucashenko tells the story of Mulanyin, a heroic young fisherman from saltwater country in the south, who works with Thomas Petrie as a young man. |
20432 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The novelist’s first reaction to news of her win was “Bugger me dead!“, which neatly sums her up as a writer: unpretentious, frank and on easy terms with vernacular. The 56-year-old is a thoroughly contemporary novelist who uses Aboriginal language liberally in her work, and who depicts modern Aboriginal life with urgency and humour. “That was really the impetus for this book, to say, ‘This is what was, and we’ve survived it,’ ” she tells me. Lucashenko receiving the Miles Franklin award in 2019. Credit: AAP In the historical part of the novel, set in the 1850s, Lucashenko tells the story of Mulanyin, a heroic young fisherman from saltwater country in the south, who works with Thomas Petrie as a young man. Mulanyin falls in love with Nita, who has lived with the Petries as a servant girl-cum-ward since she was a small girl. |
20433 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The 56-year-old is a thoroughly contemporary novelist who uses Aboriginal language liberally in her work, and who depicts modern Aboriginal life with urgency and humour. “That was really the impetus for this book, to say, ‘This is what was, and we’ve survived it,’ ” she tells me. Lucashenko receiving the Miles Franklin award in 2019. Credit: AAP In the historical part of the novel, set in the 1850s, Lucashenko tells the story of Mulanyin, a heroic young fisherman from saltwater country in the south, who works with Thomas Petrie as a young man. Mulanyin falls in love with Nita, who has lived with the Petries as a servant girl-cum-ward since she was a small girl. He dreams of buying a boat and taking his beloved home to Yugambeh country, but evading the colonial system to live a traditional life is becoming harder and more dangerous. The book uses the impending calamity of colonialism to tragic effect. |
20434 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“That was really the impetus for this book, to say, ‘This is what was, and we’ve survived it,’ ” she tells me. Lucashenko receiving the Miles Franklin award in 2019. Credit: AAP In the historical part of the novel, set in the 1850s, Lucashenko tells the story of Mulanyin, a heroic young fisherman from saltwater country in the south, who works with Thomas Petrie as a young man. Mulanyin falls in love with Nita, who has lived with the Petries as a servant girl-cum-ward since she was a small girl. He dreams of buying a boat and taking his beloved home to Yugambeh country, but evading the colonial system to live a traditional life is becoming harder and more dangerous. The book uses the impending calamity of colonialism to tragic effect. The reader knows what’s going to happen but the characters don’t – some of them think the British might still go back home. |
20435 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Lucashenko receiving the Miles Franklin award in 2019. Credit: AAP In the historical part of the novel, set in the 1850s, Lucashenko tells the story of Mulanyin, a heroic young fisherman from saltwater country in the south, who works with Thomas Petrie as a young man. Mulanyin falls in love with Nita, who has lived with the Petries as a servant girl-cum-ward since she was a small girl. He dreams of buying a boat and taking his beloved home to Yugambeh country, but evading the colonial system to live a traditional life is becoming harder and more dangerous. The book uses the impending calamity of colonialism to tragic effect. The reader knows what’s going to happen but the characters don’t – some of them think the British might still go back home. In the other narrative thread, Lucashenko tells a story set in Brisbane in 2024, in which the centenarian grandmother Eddie trips on a tree root and goes to hospital. |
20436 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Mulanyin falls in love with Nita, who has lived with the Petries as a servant girl-cum-ward since she was a small girl. He dreams of buying a boat and taking his beloved home to Yugambeh country, but evading the colonial system to live a traditional life is becoming harder and more dangerous. The book uses the impending calamity of colonialism to tragic effect. The reader knows what’s going to happen but the characters don’t – some of them think the British might still go back home. In the other narrative thread, Lucashenko tells a story set in Brisbane in 2024, in which the centenarian grandmother Eddie trips on a tree root and goes to hospital. This event brings together her feisty granddaughter, Winona, and young doctor Johnny, who has just discovered his Aboriginal ancestry and is playing at being a blackfella, much to Winona’s contempt. |
20437 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Mulanyin falls in love with Nita, who has lived with the Petries as a servant girl-cum-ward since she was a small girl. He dreams of buying a boat and taking his beloved home to Yugambeh country, but evading the colonial system to live a traditional life is becoming harder and more dangerous. The book uses the impending calamity of colonialism to tragic effect. The reader knows what’s going to happen but the characters don’t – some of them think the British might still go back home. In the other narrative thread, Lucashenko tells a story set in Brisbane in 2024, in which the centenarian grandmother Eddie trips on a tree root and goes to hospital. This event brings together her feisty granddaughter, Winona, and young doctor Johnny, who has just discovered his Aboriginal ancestry and is playing at being a blackfella, much to Winona’s contempt.
Advertisement
Lucashenko says there’s a “whole demographic of people who have an Aboriginal ancestor, who sometimes think they’re Aboriginal, but actually, regardless of skin colour, they’re white people and they have to go on a very long and different journey if they’re going to become Aboriginal”. |
20438 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The book uses the impending calamity of colonialism to tragic effect. The reader knows what’s going to happen but the characters don’t – some of them think the British might still go back home. In the other narrative thread, Lucashenko tells a story set in Brisbane in 2024, in which the centenarian grandmother Eddie trips on a tree root and goes to hospital. This event brings together her feisty granddaughter, Winona, and young doctor Johnny, who has just discovered his Aboriginal ancestry and is playing at being a blackfella, much to Winona’s contempt.
Advertisement
Lucashenko says there’s a “whole demographic of people who have an Aboriginal ancestor, who sometimes think they’re Aboriginal, but actually, regardless of skin colour, they’re white people and they have to go on a very long and different journey if they’re going to become Aboriginal”. Skin colour, she says, “is not irrelevant but it’s almost irrelevant”. Lucashenko’s grandmother, Eleanor. |
20439 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
The reader knows what’s going to happen but the characters don’t – some of them think the British might still go back home. In the other narrative thread, Lucashenko tells a story set in Brisbane in 2024, in which the centenarian grandmother Eddie trips on a tree root and goes to hospital. This event brings together her feisty granddaughter, Winona, and young doctor Johnny, who has just discovered his Aboriginal ancestry and is playing at being a blackfella, much to Winona’s contempt.
Advertisement
Lucashenko says there’s a “whole demographic of people who have an Aboriginal ancestor, who sometimes think they’re Aboriginal, but actually, regardless of skin colour, they’re white people and they have to go on a very long and different journey if they’re going to become Aboriginal”. Skin colour, she says, “is not irrelevant but it’s almost irrelevant”. Lucashenko’s grandmother, Eleanor. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “It’s the lens you see the world through … I see a myna bird there, and to me that’s emblematic of a whole lot of things. |
20440 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
This event brings together her feisty granddaughter, Winona, and young doctor Johnny, who has just discovered his Aboriginal ancestry and is playing at being a blackfella, much to Winona’s contempt.
Advertisement
Lucashenko says there’s a “whole demographic of people who have an Aboriginal ancestor, who sometimes think they’re Aboriginal, but actually, regardless of skin colour, they’re white people and they have to go on a very long and different journey if they’re going to become Aboriginal”. Skin colour, she says, “is not irrelevant but it’s almost irrelevant”. Lucashenko’s grandmother, Eleanor. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “It’s the lens you see the world through … I see a myna bird there, and to me that’s emblematic of a whole lot of things. It’s sitting in a native fig tree, you know, it should be full of fig birds. It should be full of magpies and butcher birds. |
20441 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Advertisement
Lucashenko says there’s a “whole demographic of people who have an Aboriginal ancestor, who sometimes think they’re Aboriginal, but actually, regardless of skin colour, they’re white people and they have to go on a very long and different journey if they’re going to become Aboriginal”. Skin colour, she says, “is not irrelevant but it’s almost irrelevant”. Lucashenko’s grandmother, Eleanor. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “It’s the lens you see the world through … I see a myna bird there, and to me that’s emblematic of a whole lot of things. It’s sitting in a native fig tree, you know, it should be full of fig birds. It should be full of magpies and butcher birds. It should, actually, be full of cat birds and bloody parrots but we are in the middle of West End, and there hasn’t been cat birds and parrots here for a hundred years … so it’s that kind of understanding.” Also, she adds: “F---ing up the simple binaries of black and white is a lot of what I’m about”. |
20442 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Skin colour, she says, “is not irrelevant but it’s almost irrelevant”. Lucashenko’s grandmother, Eleanor. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “It’s the lens you see the world through … I see a myna bird there, and to me that’s emblematic of a whole lot of things. It’s sitting in a native fig tree, you know, it should be full of fig birds. It should be full of magpies and butcher birds. It should, actually, be full of cat birds and bloody parrots but we are in the middle of West End, and there hasn’t been cat birds and parrots here for a hundred years … so it’s that kind of understanding.” Also, she adds: “F---ing up the simple binaries of black and white is a lot of what I’m about”. The book’s dual time-stamp structure is an attempt to render in words what Lucashenko has called the “double-vision” of Aboriginal people: the layering of the structures of modernity on the ancient landscape of their ancestors. |
20443 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It’s sitting in a native fig tree, you know, it should be full of fig birds. It should be full of magpies and butcher birds. It should, actually, be full of cat birds and bloody parrots but we are in the middle of West End, and there hasn’t been cat birds and parrots here for a hundred years … so it’s that kind of understanding.” Also, she adds: “F---ing up the simple binaries of black and white is a lot of what I’m about”. The book’s dual time-stamp structure is an attempt to render in words what Lucashenko has called the “double-vision” of Aboriginal people: the layering of the structures of modernity on the ancient landscape of their ancestors. “There’s a very strong economic and social and psychological drive in non-Aboriginal people to see us as, if not dead, then very diminished,” she says. |
20444 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It’s sitting in a native fig tree, you know, it should be full of fig birds. It should be full of magpies and butcher birds. It should, actually, be full of cat birds and bloody parrots but we are in the middle of West End, and there hasn’t been cat birds and parrots here for a hundred years … so it’s that kind of understanding.” Also, she adds: “F---ing up the simple binaries of black and white is a lot of what I’m about”. The book’s dual time-stamp structure is an attempt to render in words what Lucashenko has called the “double-vision” of Aboriginal people: the layering of the structures of modernity on the ancient landscape of their ancestors. “There’s a very strong economic and social and psychological drive in non-Aboriginal people to see us as, if not dead, then very diminished,” she says. “Until probably 10 years ago, I would have said the trope of the dying race was, ironically, immortal. |
20445 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It should be full of magpies and butcher birds. It should, actually, be full of cat birds and bloody parrots but we are in the middle of West End, and there hasn’t been cat birds and parrots here for a hundred years … so it’s that kind of understanding.” Also, she adds: “F---ing up the simple binaries of black and white is a lot of what I’m about”. The book’s dual time-stamp structure is an attempt to render in words what Lucashenko has called the “double-vision” of Aboriginal people: the layering of the structures of modernity on the ancient landscape of their ancestors. “There’s a very strong economic and social and psychological drive in non-Aboriginal people to see us as, if not dead, then very diminished,” she says. “Until probably 10 years ago, I would have said the trope of the dying race was, ironically, immortal. But now there’s so much about us in the media all the time, and in the education system to an extent, most Australians have to recognise that Aboriginal people haven’t died out.” Loading (Census data shows the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has in fact risen – from 548,368 in 2011, to 649,171 in 2016, then up 25 per cent to 812,728 in 2021. |
20446 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“There’s a very strong economic and social and psychological drive in non-Aboriginal people to see us as, if not dead, then very diminished,” she says. “Until probably 10 years ago, I would have said the trope of the dying race was, ironically, immortal. But now there’s so much about us in the media all the time, and in the education system to an extent, most Australians have to recognise that Aboriginal people haven’t died out.” Loading (Census data shows the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has in fact risen – from 548,368 in 2011, to 649,171 in 2016, then up 25 per cent to 812,728 in 2021. This increase is attributed in large part to people feeling more comfortable identifying as Indigenous, and also to the growing popularity of genealogical research.) |
20447 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“There’s a very strong economic and social and psychological drive in non-Aboriginal people to see us as, if not dead, then very diminished,” she says. “Until probably 10 years ago, I would have said the trope of the dying race was, ironically, immortal. But now there’s so much about us in the media all the time, and in the education system to an extent, most Australians have to recognise that Aboriginal people haven’t died out.” Loading (Census data shows the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has in fact risen – from 548,368 in 2011, to 649,171 in 2016, then up 25 per cent to 812,728 in 2021. This increase is attributed in large part to people feeling more comfortable identifying as Indigenous, and also to the growing popularity of genealogical research.) That Aboriginal people were not all killed off in the early days of settlement was despite the best efforts of some colonists; one of the historical events that inspired the book was the public hanging of the Indigenous warrior Dundalli, the last person publicly executed in Queensland. |
20448 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
But now there’s so much about us in the media all the time, and in the education system to an extent, most Australians have to recognise that Aboriginal people haven’t died out.” Loading (Census data shows the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has in fact risen – from 548,368 in 2011, to 649,171 in 2016, then up 25 per cent to 812,728 in 2021. This increase is attributed in large part to people feeling more comfortable identifying as Indigenous, and also to the growing popularity of genealogical research.) That Aboriginal people were not all killed off in the early days of settlement was despite the best efforts of some colonists; one of the historical events that inspired the book was the public hanging of the Indigenous warrior Dundalli, the last person publicly executed in Queensland. Labelled on his death “one of the most guiltiest and most incorrigible of the aboriginal natives of this quarter” by The Brisbane Courier, Dundalli evaded capture for 14 years before being convicted in 1854 of two murders (the charges may have been trumped up). |
20449 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
This increase is attributed in large part to people feeling more comfortable identifying as Indigenous, and also to the growing popularity of genealogical research.) That Aboriginal people were not all killed off in the early days of settlement was despite the best efforts of some colonists; one of the historical events that inspired the book was the public hanging of the Indigenous warrior Dundalli, the last person publicly executed in Queensland. Labelled on his death “one of the most guiltiest and most incorrigible of the aboriginal natives of this quarter” by The Brisbane Courier, Dundalli evaded capture for 14 years before being convicted in 1854 of two murders (the charges may have been trumped up). In 1855 he was hanged on gallows erected on Queen Street, but the execution was horribly botched. The executioner misjudged the length of the rope and had to swing on the hanged man’s body to finish off the killing. |
20450 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
This increase is attributed in large part to people feeling more comfortable identifying as Indigenous, and also to the growing popularity of genealogical research.) That Aboriginal people were not all killed off in the early days of settlement was despite the best efforts of some colonists; one of the historical events that inspired the book was the public hanging of the Indigenous warrior Dundalli, the last person publicly executed in Queensland. Labelled on his death “one of the most guiltiest and most incorrigible of the aboriginal natives of this quarter” by The Brisbane Courier, Dundalli evaded capture for 14 years before being convicted in 1854 of two murders (the charges may have been trumped up). In 1855 he was hanged on gallows erected on Queen Street, but the execution was horribly botched. The executioner misjudged the length of the rope and had to swing on the hanged man’s body to finish off the killing.
Advertisement
Aboriginal resistance leader Dundalli, in a sketch made before his “horribly botched” public hanging in Brisbane, 1855. |
20451 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
That Aboriginal people were not all killed off in the early days of settlement was despite the best efforts of some colonists; one of the historical events that inspired the book was the public hanging of the Indigenous warrior Dundalli, the last person publicly executed in Queensland. Labelled on his death “one of the most guiltiest and most incorrigible of the aboriginal natives of this quarter” by The Brisbane Courier, Dundalli evaded capture for 14 years before being convicted in 1854 of two murders (the charges may have been trumped up). In 1855 he was hanged on gallows erected on Queen Street, but the execution was horribly botched. The executioner misjudged the length of the rope and had to swing on the hanged man’s body to finish off the killing.
Advertisement
Aboriginal resistance leader Dundalli, in a sketch made before his “horribly botched” public hanging in Brisbane, 1855. Credit: State Library of Queensland “It’s really a historical fulcrum, the grotesque hanging of Dundalli in the middle of town in front of everyone: black, white, soldier, civilian, everyone,” Lucashenko says. |
20452 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Labelled on his death “one of the most guiltiest and most incorrigible of the aboriginal natives of this quarter” by The Brisbane Courier, Dundalli evaded capture for 14 years before being convicted in 1854 of two murders (the charges may have been trumped up). In 1855 he was hanged on gallows erected on Queen Street, but the execution was horribly botched. The executioner misjudged the length of the rope and had to swing on the hanged man’s body to finish off the killing.
Advertisement
Aboriginal resistance leader Dundalli, in a sketch made before his “horribly botched” public hanging in Brisbane, 1855. Credit: State Library of Queensland “It’s really a historical fulcrum, the grotesque hanging of Dundalli in the middle of town in front of everyone: black, white, soldier, civilian, everyone,” Lucashenko says. “The way it was done, with the hangman having to use his own body weight to kill this resistance leader, to me that was a microcosm of the brutality and the spectacle of colonisation, and that was one thing that I really wanted better known. |
20453 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
In 1855 he was hanged on gallows erected on Queen Street, but the execution was horribly botched. The executioner misjudged the length of the rope and had to swing on the hanged man’s body to finish off the killing.
Advertisement
Aboriginal resistance leader Dundalli, in a sketch made before his “horribly botched” public hanging in Brisbane, 1855. Credit: State Library of Queensland “It’s really a historical fulcrum, the grotesque hanging of Dundalli in the middle of town in front of everyone: black, white, soldier, civilian, everyone,” Lucashenko says. “The way it was done, with the hangman having to use his own body weight to kill this resistance leader, to me that was a microcosm of the brutality and the spectacle of colonisation, and that was one thing that I really wanted better known. Just the inherent drama of it, as well as the historical importance.” As a novelist, Melissa Lucashenko is preoccupied with survival, and as a person, she knows a lot about it. |
20454 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Advertisement
Aboriginal resistance leader Dundalli, in a sketch made before his “horribly botched” public hanging in Brisbane, 1855. Credit: State Library of Queensland “It’s really a historical fulcrum, the grotesque hanging of Dundalli in the middle of town in front of everyone: black, white, soldier, civilian, everyone,” Lucashenko says. “The way it was done, with the hangman having to use his own body weight to kill this resistance leader, to me that was a microcosm of the brutality and the spectacle of colonisation, and that was one thing that I really wanted better known. Just the inherent drama of it, as well as the historical importance.” As a novelist, Melissa Lucashenko is preoccupied with survival, and as a person, she knows a lot about it. Born to an Aboriginal mother, Cecile, and a Russian-speaking Ukrainian father – Vladimir Lucashenko, known as Wally Lucas, whose family fled the Russian Revolution via China – she and her six older brothers grew up on the outskirts of Logan, south of Brisbane, in circumstances where the chances of becoming an author, let alone a celebrated one, were remote. |
20455 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“The way it was done, with the hangman having to use his own body weight to kill this resistance leader, to me that was a microcosm of the brutality and the spectacle of colonisation, and that was one thing that I really wanted better known. Just the inherent drama of it, as well as the historical importance.” As a novelist, Melissa Lucashenko is preoccupied with survival, and as a person, she knows a lot about it. Born to an Aboriginal mother, Cecile, and a Russian-speaking Ukrainian father – Vladimir Lucashenko, known as Wally Lucas, whose family fled the Russian Revolution via China – she and her six older brothers grew up on the outskirts of Logan, south of Brisbane, in circumstances where the chances of becoming an author, let alone a celebrated one, were remote. “My father was a meatworker and a cane cutter … Mum worked at a fish and chip shop and sold plants at the local markets,” Lucashenko says of her family background. |
20456 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Just the inherent drama of it, as well as the historical importance.” As a novelist, Melissa Lucashenko is preoccupied with survival, and as a person, she knows a lot about it. Born to an Aboriginal mother, Cecile, and a Russian-speaking Ukrainian father – Vladimir Lucashenko, known as Wally Lucas, whose family fled the Russian Revolution via China – she and her six older brothers grew up on the outskirts of Logan, south of Brisbane, in circumstances where the chances of becoming an author, let alone a celebrated one, were remote. “My father was a meatworker and a cane cutter … Mum worked at a fish and chip shop and sold plants at the local markets,” Lucashenko says of her family background. “Mum left school in about grade three or four. She was a domestic from a very young age, as her mother and grandmother were. At one point as a young mother she was working three jobs. “Dad went to high school but I’m not sure how far he got. |
20457 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Born to an Aboriginal mother, Cecile, and a Russian-speaking Ukrainian father – Vladimir Lucashenko, known as Wally Lucas, whose family fled the Russian Revolution via China – she and her six older brothers grew up on the outskirts of Logan, south of Brisbane, in circumstances where the chances of becoming an author, let alone a celebrated one, were remote. “My father was a meatworker and a cane cutter … Mum worked at a fish and chip shop and sold plants at the local markets,” Lucashenko says of her family background. “Mum left school in about grade three or four. She was a domestic from a very young age, as her mother and grandmother were. At one point as a young mother she was working three jobs. “Dad went to high school but I’m not sure how far he got. As a child, he was in an orphanage in Brisbane at one point with his brothers, after his father was violent, and his mother needed to escape.” Lucashenko did not know she was of Aboriginal descent until she was 15 years old, when someone she knew “picked it” and said to her, “You’re Aboriginal … go home and ask your parents.” About that time, a photo appeared on her mother’s dresser of “this very black woman”, Lucashenko says. |
20458 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“Mum left school in about grade three or four. She was a domestic from a very young age, as her mother and grandmother were. At one point as a young mother she was working three jobs. “Dad went to high school but I’m not sure how far he got. As a child, he was in an orphanage in Brisbane at one point with his brothers, after his father was violent, and his mother needed to escape.” Lucashenko did not know she was of Aboriginal descent until she was 15 years old, when someone she knew “picked it” and said to her, “You’re Aboriginal … go home and ask your parents.” About that time, a photo appeared on her mother’s dresser of “this very black woman”, Lucashenko says. “I said, ‘Who is that photo of that Aboriginal woman?’ ” she recounts. “My mother said, ‘Oh, that’s my grandmother. |
20459 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“Mum left school in about grade three or four. She was a domestic from a very young age, as her mother and grandmother were. At one point as a young mother she was working three jobs. “Dad went to high school but I’m not sure how far he got. As a child, he was in an orphanage in Brisbane at one point with his brothers, after his father was violent, and his mother needed to escape.” Lucashenko did not know she was of Aboriginal descent until she was 15 years old, when someone she knew “picked it” and said to her, “You’re Aboriginal … go home and ask your parents.” About that time, a photo appeared on her mother’s dresser of “this very black woman”, Lucashenko says. “I said, ‘Who is that photo of that Aboriginal woman?’ ” she recounts. “My mother said, ‘Oh, that’s my grandmother. That’s why we’ve all got olive skin and dark hair.’” Lucashenko was shocked at the revelation, and felt “momentary disquiet” (something she attributes to internalised racism) but says it “instantly made sense”. |
20460 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
As a child, he was in an orphanage in Brisbane at one point with his brothers, after his father was violent, and his mother needed to escape.” Lucashenko did not know she was of Aboriginal descent until she was 15 years old, when someone she knew “picked it” and said to her, “You’re Aboriginal … go home and ask your parents.” About that time, a photo appeared on her mother’s dresser of “this very black woman”, Lucashenko says. “I said, ‘Who is that photo of that Aboriginal woman?’ ” she recounts. “My mother said, ‘Oh, that’s my grandmother. That’s why we’ve all got olive skin and dark hair.’” Lucashenko was shocked at the revelation, and felt “momentary disquiet” (something she attributes to internalised racism) but says it “instantly made sense”.
Advertisement
Lucashenko’s mother, Cecile. |
20461 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
As a child, he was in an orphanage in Brisbane at one point with his brothers, after his father was violent, and his mother needed to escape.” Lucashenko did not know she was of Aboriginal descent until she was 15 years old, when someone she knew “picked it” and said to her, “You’re Aboriginal … go home and ask your parents.” About that time, a photo appeared on her mother’s dresser of “this very black woman”, Lucashenko says. “I said, ‘Who is that photo of that Aboriginal woman?’ ” she recounts. “My mother said, ‘Oh, that’s my grandmother. That’s why we’ve all got olive skin and dark hair.’” Lucashenko was shocked at the revelation, and felt “momentary disquiet” (something she attributes to internalised racism) but says it “instantly made sense”.
Advertisement
Lucashenko’s mother, Cecile. When Melissa was 15, someone told her she was Aboriginal and to “ask your parents”. |
20462 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“I said, ‘Who is that photo of that Aboriginal woman?’ ” she recounts. “My mother said, ‘Oh, that’s my grandmother. That’s why we’ve all got olive skin and dark hair.’” Lucashenko was shocked at the revelation, and felt “momentary disquiet” (something she attributes to internalised racism) but says it “instantly made sense”.
Advertisement
Lucashenko’s mother, Cecile. When Melissa was 15, someone told her she was Aboriginal and to “ask your parents”. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “For the 40 years since then, I’ve been learning the culture and I’ve had different teachers from different mobs and I’ve taught other people what I know.” She later learnt that her grandmother Eleanor had defeated an attempt by authorities to remove her as a child in about 1907 or 1908, in Wolvi in Queensland’s Gympie region, and that her great-grandmother Christina Copson had worked as a domestic servant from the age of eight: “She was a slave, she had no rights.” The family came under the extra scrutiny of authorities after Copson shot and injured a man who tried to rape her. |
20463 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Advertisement
Lucashenko’s mother, Cecile. When Melissa was 15, someone told her she was Aboriginal and to “ask your parents”. Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “For the 40 years since then, I’ve been learning the culture and I’ve had different teachers from different mobs and I’ve taught other people what I know.” She later learnt that her grandmother Eleanor had defeated an attempt by authorities to remove her as a child in about 1907 or 1908, in Wolvi in Queensland’s Gympie region, and that her great-grandmother Christina Copson had worked as a domestic servant from the age of eight: “She was a slave, she had no rights.” The family came under the extra scrutiny of authorities after Copson shot and injured a man who tried to rape her. She was arrested and jailed for a week. In court, she told the judge she’d acted in self-defence, and he found her not guilty. Her perpetrator was jailed for six months instead. |
20464 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucashenko “For the 40 years since then, I’ve been learning the culture and I’ve had different teachers from different mobs and I’ve taught other people what I know.” She later learnt that her grandmother Eleanor had defeated an attempt by authorities to remove her as a child in about 1907 or 1908, in Wolvi in Queensland’s Gympie region, and that her great-grandmother Christina Copson had worked as a domestic servant from the age of eight: “She was a slave, she had no rights.” The family came under the extra scrutiny of authorities after Copson shot and injured a man who tried to rape her. She was arrested and jailed for a week. In court, she told the judge she’d acted in self-defence, and he found her not guilty. Her perpetrator was jailed for six months instead. The would-be rapist was an Aboriginal man. “No way she would have gotten away with shooting a white assailant,” Lucashenko says. |
20465 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
She was arrested and jailed for a week. In court, she told the judge she’d acted in self-defence, and he found her not guilty. Her perpetrator was jailed for six months instead. The would-be rapist was an Aboriginal man. “No way she would have gotten away with shooting a white assailant,” Lucashenko says. “My mother … was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t.” On leaving school in 1983 at the end of year 12, Lucashenko worked as a barmaid, a delivery truck driver and a support worker for women out of prison. She used to be obsessed with karate and has a black belt in it. In 1990, she graduated from Griffith University with an honours degree in public policy, having been the first in her immediate family to go to university. “My mother had no education and was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t,” Lucashenko says. “There was no skipping school in my household. |
20466 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Her perpetrator was jailed for six months instead. The would-be rapist was an Aboriginal man. “No way she would have gotten away with shooting a white assailant,” Lucashenko says. “My mother … was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t.” On leaving school in 1983 at the end of year 12, Lucashenko worked as a barmaid, a delivery truck driver and a support worker for women out of prison. She used to be obsessed with karate and has a black belt in it. In 1990, she graduated from Griffith University with an honours degree in public policy, having been the first in her immediate family to go to university. “My mother had no education and was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t,” Lucashenko says. “There was no skipping school in my household. I was always in the library if I wasn’t on the back of a horse ... I was taken up to the headmaster’s office in grade one and made to read aloud and they all oohed and ahhed.” She published her first book, Steam Pigs, in 1997. |
20467 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
She used to be obsessed with karate and has a black belt in it. In 1990, she graduated from Griffith University with an honours degree in public policy, having been the first in her immediate family to go to university. “My mother had no education and was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t,” Lucashenko says. “There was no skipping school in my household. I was always in the library if I wasn’t on the back of a horse ... I was taken up to the headmaster’s office in grade one and made to read aloud and they all oohed and ahhed.” She published her first book, Steam Pigs, in 1997. It won the Dobbie Literary Award for women’s fiction and she was away, publishing three more books over the next 15 or so years. [In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. |
20468 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
In 1990, she graduated from Griffith University with an honours degree in public policy, having been the first in her immediate family to go to university. “My mother had no education and was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t,” Lucashenko says. “There was no skipping school in my household. I was always in the library if I wasn’t on the back of a horse ... I was taken up to the headmaster’s office in grade one and made to read aloud and they all oohed and ahhed.” She published her first book, Steam Pigs, in 1997. It won the Dobbie Literary Award for women’s fiction and she was away, publishing three more books over the next 15 or so years. [In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. She married – her husband Bill worked as a foreign aid specialist for AusAID – and had a son and a daughter. |
20469 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“My mother had no education and was determined that her daughter would have the chances she didn’t,” Lucashenko says. “There was no skipping school in my household. I was always in the library if I wasn’t on the back of a horse ... I was taken up to the headmaster’s office in grade one and made to read aloud and they all oohed and ahhed.” She published her first book, Steam Pigs, in 1997. It won the Dobbie Literary Award for women’s fiction and she was away, publishing three more books over the next 15 or so years. [In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. She married – her husband Bill worked as a foreign aid specialist for AusAID – and had a son and a daughter. They moved around for her husband’s job, living in Canberra and on overseas postings, including in Tonga. |
20470 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
“There was no skipping school in my household. I was always in the library if I wasn’t on the back of a horse ... I was taken up to the headmaster’s office in grade one and made to read aloud and they all oohed and ahhed.” She published her first book, Steam Pigs, in 1997. It won the Dobbie Literary Award for women’s fiction and she was away, publishing three more books over the next 15 or so years. [In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. She married – her husband Bill worked as a foreign aid specialist for AusAID – and had a son and a daughter. They moved around for her husband’s job, living in Canberra and on overseas postings, including in Tonga. Eventually the family settled on Lucashenko’s ancestral land, Bundjalung, in the northern coastal area of NSW, buying a property and raising horses. |
20471 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It won the Dobbie Literary Award for women’s fiction and she was away, publishing three more books over the next 15 or so years. [In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. She married – her husband Bill worked as a foreign aid specialist for AusAID – and had a son and a daughter. They moved around for her husband’s job, living in Canberra and on overseas postings, including in Tonga. Eventually the family settled on Lucashenko’s ancestral land, Bundjalung, in the northern coastal area of NSW, buying a property and raising horses. But that idyll ended in 2007, when Lucashenko and her husband divorced. She couldn’t afford to stay on the land and worried about becoming a “bag lady”. |
20472 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
It won the Dobbie Literary Award for women’s fiction and she was away, publishing three more books over the next 15 or so years. [In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. She married – her husband Bill worked as a foreign aid specialist for AusAID – and had a son and a daughter. They moved around for her husband’s job, living in Canberra and on overseas postings, including in Tonga. Eventually the family settled on Lucashenko’s ancestral land, Bundjalung, in the northern coastal area of NSW, buying a property and raising horses. But that idyll ended in 2007, when Lucashenko and her husband divorced. She couldn’t afford to stay on the land and worried about becoming a “bag lady”. Around that time, her 16-year-old daughter was hospitalised with mental health difficulties and the two of them moved back to Logan City, poor again. |
20473 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
[In 2018 she told The Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia is a profoundly racist country and that is why I write more than anything else”]. She married – her husband Bill worked as a foreign aid specialist for AusAID – and had a son and a daughter. They moved around for her husband’s job, living in Canberra and on overseas postings, including in Tonga. Eventually the family settled on Lucashenko’s ancestral land, Bundjalung, in the northern coastal area of NSW, buying a property and raising horses. But that idyll ended in 2007, when Lucashenko and her husband divorced. She couldn’t afford to stay on the land and worried about becoming a “bag lady”. Around that time, her 16-year-old daughter was hospitalised with mental health difficulties and the two of them moved back to Logan City, poor again. As she said in an address at the 2013 Melbourne Writers’ Festival: “I knew what life was like in a suburb where the majority of people were ordinary, decent Australians, but a significant minority were prepared to sell their children’s Ritalin in order to fund a heroin habit. |
20474 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
They moved around for her husband’s job, living in Canberra and on overseas postings, including in Tonga. Eventually the family settled on Lucashenko’s ancestral land, Bundjalung, in the northern coastal area of NSW, buying a property and raising horses. But that idyll ended in 2007, when Lucashenko and her husband divorced. She couldn’t afford to stay on the land and worried about becoming a “bag lady”. Around that time, her 16-year-old daughter was hospitalised with mental health difficulties and the two of them moved back to Logan City, poor again. As she said in an address at the 2013 Melbourne Writers’ Festival: “I knew what life was like in a suburb where the majority of people were ordinary, decent Australians, but a significant minority were prepared to sell their children’s Ritalin in order to fund a heroin habit. Like some kind of weirdly reverse Charles Ryder coming upon Brideshead, I’d been there before. |
20475 | Author Melissa Lucashenko on playing with black and white binaries
Eventually the family settled on Lucashenko’s ancestral land, Bundjalung, in the northern coastal area of NSW, buying a property and raising horses. But that idyll ended in 2007, when Lucashenko and her husband divorced. She couldn’t afford to stay on the land and worried about becoming a “bag lady”. Around that time, her 16-year-old daughter was hospitalised with mental health difficulties and the two of them moved back to Logan City, poor again. As she said in an address at the 2013 Melbourne Writers’ Festival: “I knew what life was like in a suburb where the majority of people were ordinary, decent Australians, but a significant minority were prepared to sell their children’s Ritalin in order to fund a heroin habit. Like some kind of weirdly reverse Charles Ryder coming upon Brideshead, I’d been there before. I knew all about it.”
Advertisement |
20476 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
When Vincent Namatjira was living in Perth as a teenage ward of the state, a school excursion brought him face-to-sail with a replica of the HMS Endeavour, the vessel that fatefully delivered James Cook to Dharawal country in 1770. After his teacher announced there would be a prize for whoever drew the ship, the young Vincent got sketching.
“Yeah, I won the prize,” Namatjira tells Guardian Australia with a grin, decades later. “That’s the first time.”
Many more prizes would follow. The now 40-year-old has won some of Australia’s most high-profile art gongs, from his Cook-inspired Ramsay art prize win in 2019 to his Archibald-winning portrait of the AFL footballer Adam Goodes in 2020, and has been awarded an Order of Australia medal to boot. |
20477 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
When Vincent Namatjira was living in Perth as a teenage ward of the state, a school excursion brought him face-to-sail with a replica of the HMS Endeavour, the vessel that fatefully delivered James Cook to Dharawal country in 1770. After his teacher announced there would be a prize for whoever drew the ship, the young Vincent got sketching.
“Yeah, I won the prize,” Namatjira tells Guardian Australia with a grin, decades later. “That’s the first time.”
Many more prizes would follow. The now 40-year-old has won some of Australia’s most high-profile art gongs, from his Cook-inspired Ramsay art prize win in 2019 to his Archibald-winning portrait of the AFL footballer Adam Goodes in 2020, and has been awarded an Order of Australia medal to boot.
Vincent Namatjira with his Archibald-prize- winning portrait of Adam Goodes, titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. |
20478 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
After his teacher announced there would be a prize for whoever drew the ship, the young Vincent got sketching.
“Yeah, I won the prize,” Namatjira tells Guardian Australia with a grin, decades later. “That’s the first time.”
Many more prizes would follow. The now 40-year-old has won some of Australia’s most high-profile art gongs, from his Cook-inspired Ramsay art prize win in 2019 to his Archibald-winning portrait of the AFL footballer Adam Goodes in 2020, and has been awarded an Order of Australia medal to boot.
Vincent Namatjira with his Archibald-prize- winning portrait of Adam Goodes, titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. Photograph: Iwantja Arts
Namatjira’s colourfully idiosyncratic portraits both skewer and honour their subjects — sometimes at the same time, with what fellow artist and collaborator Tony Albert describes as “guerilla humour”. |
20479 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
“Yeah, I won the prize,” Namatjira tells Guardian Australia with a grin, decades later. “That’s the first time.”
Many more prizes would follow. The now 40-year-old has won some of Australia’s most high-profile art gongs, from his Cook-inspired Ramsay art prize win in 2019 to his Archibald-winning portrait of the AFL footballer Adam Goodes in 2020, and has been awarded an Order of Australia medal to boot.
Vincent Namatjira with his Archibald-prize- winning portrait of Adam Goodes, titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. Photograph: Iwantja Arts
Namatjira’s colourfully idiosyncratic portraits both skewer and honour their subjects — sometimes at the same time, with what fellow artist and collaborator Tony Albert describes as “guerilla humour”. Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. |
20480 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
“That’s the first time.”
Many more prizes would follow. The now 40-year-old has won some of Australia’s most high-profile art gongs, from his Cook-inspired Ramsay art prize win in 2019 to his Archibald-winning portrait of the AFL footballer Adam Goodes in 2020, and has been awarded an Order of Australia medal to boot.
Vincent Namatjira with his Archibald-prize- winning portrait of Adam Goodes, titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. Photograph: Iwantja Arts
Namatjira’s colourfully idiosyncratic portraits both skewer and honour their subjects — sometimes at the same time, with what fellow artist and collaborator Tony Albert describes as “guerilla humour”. Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II. |
20481 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Vincent Namatjira with his Archibald-prize- winning portrait of Adam Goodes, titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. Photograph: Iwantja Arts
Namatjira’s colourfully idiosyncratic portraits both skewer and honour their subjects — sometimes at the same time, with what fellow artist and collaborator Tony Albert describes as “guerilla humour”. Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve become rocketing,” he says. “Before I ever picked up a paintbrush, I was just a normal Aboriginal fella. |
20482 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Vincent Namatjira with his Archibald-prize- winning portrait of Adam Goodes, titled Stand Strong for Who You Are. Photograph: Iwantja Arts
Namatjira’s colourfully idiosyncratic portraits both skewer and honour their subjects — sometimes at the same time, with what fellow artist and collaborator Tony Albert describes as “guerilla humour”. Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve become rocketing,” he says. “Before I ever picked up a paintbrush, I was just a normal Aboriginal fella. And here I am today, popping up everywhere – it’s completely changed my life.”
Back in the 1990s the teenage Vincent didn’t fully appreciate just how art, Cook and those colonial legacies would shape his life. |
20483 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Photograph: Iwantja Arts
Namatjira’s colourfully idiosyncratic portraits both skewer and honour their subjects — sometimes at the same time, with what fellow artist and collaborator Tony Albert describes as “guerilla humour”. Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve become rocketing,” he says. “Before I ever picked up a paintbrush, I was just a normal Aboriginal fella. And here I am today, popping up everywhere – it’s completely changed my life.”
Back in the 1990s the teenage Vincent didn’t fully appreciate just how art, Cook and those colonial legacies would shape his life. Displaced from his Arrernte family, culture and country at a young age, he didn’t even know the significance of his last name. |
20484 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve become rocketing,” he says. “Before I ever picked up a paintbrush, I was just a normal Aboriginal fella. And here I am today, popping up everywhere – it’s completely changed my life.”
Back in the 1990s the teenage Vincent didn’t fully appreciate just how art, Cook and those colonial legacies would shape his life. Displaced from his Arrernte family, culture and country at a young age, he didn’t even know the significance of his last name.
“At that time, I didn’t know that I was related to this well-known artist,” he says. |
20485 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Often painting himself into the picture, in one scene Namatjira might be seen on a palace balcony gatecrashing a royal family photo op. The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve become rocketing,” he says. “Before I ever picked up a paintbrush, I was just a normal Aboriginal fella. And here I am today, popping up everywhere – it’s completely changed my life.”
Back in the 1990s the teenage Vincent didn’t fully appreciate just how art, Cook and those colonial legacies would shape his life. Displaced from his Arrernte family, culture and country at a young age, he didn’t even know the significance of his last name.
“At that time, I didn’t know that I was related to this well-known artist,” he says. “And I never met the guy.”
Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of his late great-grandfather Albert Namatjira centre as part of his Desert Songs series showing in Sydney. |
20486 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
The next he’s in an Acca Dacca T-shirt, patting a dingo and waving the Aboriginal flag alongside Cook and Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve become rocketing,” he says. “Before I ever picked up a paintbrush, I was just a normal Aboriginal fella. And here I am today, popping up everywhere – it’s completely changed my life.”
Back in the 1990s the teenage Vincent didn’t fully appreciate just how art, Cook and those colonial legacies would shape his life. Displaced from his Arrernte family, culture and country at a young age, he didn’t even know the significance of his last name.
“At that time, I didn’t know that I was related to this well-known artist,” he says. “And I never met the guy.”
Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of his late great-grandfather Albert Namatjira centre as part of his Desert Songs series showing in Sydney. Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. |
20487 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
And here I am today, popping up everywhere – it’s completely changed my life.”
Back in the 1990s the teenage Vincent didn’t fully appreciate just how art, Cook and those colonial legacies would shape his life. Displaced from his Arrernte family, culture and country at a young age, he didn’t even know the significance of his last name.
“At that time, I didn’t know that I was related to this well-known artist,” he says. “And I never met the guy.”
Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of his late great-grandfather Albert Namatjira centre as part of his Desert Songs series showing in Sydney. Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country. |
20488 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Displaced from his Arrernte family, culture and country at a young age, he didn’t even know the significance of his last name.
“At that time, I didn’t know that I was related to this well-known artist,” he says. “And I never met the guy.”
Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of his late great-grandfather Albert Namatjira centre as part of his Desert Songs series showing in Sydney. Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. |
20489 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
“At that time, I didn’t know that I was related to this well-known artist,” he says. “And I never met the guy.”
Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of his late great-grandfather Albert Namatjira centre as part of his Desert Songs series showing in Sydney. Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. |
20490 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
“And I never met the guy.”
Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of his late great-grandfather Albert Namatjira centre as part of his Desert Songs series showing in Sydney. Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname. |
20491 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname.
“Getting off that flight, you see a lot of people coming,” he recalls of landing in Alice Springs. |
20492 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Photograph: Yavuz Gallery
The western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira (1902-59) was one of the most well-known Aboriginal figures in 20th-century Australia, painting watercolour landscapes that blended western influences with a unique perspective on country. The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname.
“Getting off that flight, you see a lot of people coming,” he recalls of landing in Alice Springs. “A lot of old ladies, a lot of young people, everybody crying. |
20493 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname.
“Getting off that flight, you see a lot of people coming,” he recalls of landing in Alice Springs. “A lot of old ladies, a lot of young people, everybody crying. They didn’t actually know me, I didn’t actually know them. |
20494 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
The elder Namatjira and the Hermannsburg school of artists became a cultural phenomenon but, despite fame and success, Albert faced legal and health troubles that illustrated a gap in this country.
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname.
“Getting off that flight, you see a lot of people coming,” he recalls of landing in Alice Springs. “A lot of old ladies, a lot of young people, everybody crying. They didn’t actually know me, I didn’t actually know them. It was from mentioning my [mother’s] name, Jillian Namatjira.”
Namatjira with his artwork Self-Portrait (2023) in Indulkana, APY lands. |
20495 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
That gap – between white and black Australia – has also influenced his great-grandson’s life. Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname.
“Getting off that flight, you see a lot of people coming,” he recalls of landing in Alice Springs. “A lot of old ladies, a lot of young people, everybody crying. They didn’t actually know me, I didn’t actually know them. It was from mentioning my [mother’s] name, Jillian Namatjira.”
Namatjira with his artwork Self-Portrait (2023) in Indulkana, APY lands. Photograph: Max Mackinnon
Eventually Vincent settled in the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, started a family of his own and began to paint. |
20496 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Born in Alice Springs in 1983, Vincent was moved to Perth with his sister and placed in foster care after their mother’s death. At 18 he returned to central Australia with little connection to his mother’s home beyond his surname.
“Getting off that flight, you see a lot of people coming,” he recalls of landing in Alice Springs. “A lot of old ladies, a lot of young people, everybody crying. They didn’t actually know me, I didn’t actually know them. It was from mentioning my [mother’s] name, Jillian Namatjira.”
Namatjira with his artwork Self-Portrait (2023) in Indulkana, APY lands. Photograph: Max Mackinnon
Eventually Vincent settled in the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, started a family of his own and began to paint. The image of his great-grandfather has loomed large in the work he has created since 2012 – from the 13-panel series Albert’s Story in 2014 to a 2023 portrait that formed part of his Desert Songs series – but Vincent has never sought to imitate the recognisable style of his ancestor. |
20497 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
“A lot of old ladies, a lot of young people, everybody crying. They didn’t actually know me, I didn’t actually know them. It was from mentioning my [mother’s] name, Jillian Namatjira.”
Namatjira with his artwork Self-Portrait (2023) in Indulkana, APY lands. Photograph: Max Mackinnon
Eventually Vincent settled in the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, started a family of his own and began to paint. The image of his great-grandfather has loomed large in the work he has created since 2012 – from the 13-panel series Albert’s Story in 2014 to a 2023 portrait that formed part of his Desert Songs series – but Vincent has never sought to imitate the recognisable style of his ancestor.
“We have both had to fill our legacies,” he says. |
20498 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
They didn’t actually know me, I didn’t actually know them. It was from mentioning my [mother’s] name, Jillian Namatjira.”
Namatjira with his artwork Self-Portrait (2023) in Indulkana, APY lands. Photograph: Max Mackinnon
Eventually Vincent settled in the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, started a family of his own and began to paint. The image of his great-grandfather has loomed large in the work he has created since 2012 – from the 13-panel series Albert’s Story in 2014 to a 2023 portrait that formed part of his Desert Songs series – but Vincent has never sought to imitate the recognisable style of his ancestor.
“We have both had to fill our legacies,” he says. “I want the audience to see my work and my name, Vincent Namatjira, with the work of modern art – more portraits, figurative. |
20499 | ‘I see myself as a royal’: artist Vincent Namatjira on colonialism, satire and his great-grandfather’s legacy
Photograph: Max Mackinnon
Eventually Vincent settled in the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, started a family of his own and began to paint. The image of his great-grandfather has loomed large in the work he has created since 2012 – from the 13-panel series Albert’s Story in 2014 to a 2023 portrait that formed part of his Desert Songs series – but Vincent has never sought to imitate the recognisable style of his ancestor.
“We have both had to fill our legacies,” he says. “I want the audience to see my work and my name, Vincent Namatjira, with the work of modern art – more portraits, figurative. It’s colourful and bold.”
Namatjira’s 2018 series Legends features land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo, football player Nicky Winmar, songwriter Archie Roach and artist Gordon Bennett. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.