Australian First Nations nonfiction books

Paperback

Indigenous Knowledge: Australian Perspectives

Marcia Langton, Aaron Corn, Samuel Curkpatrick (eds)

Trace the foundations and applications of Indigenous knowledge in Australia today

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marramarra

Brook Garru Andrew, Jessica Neath

marramarra highlights contemporary Indigenous art from across the planet and how artists and their communities are providing truth-telling about the past and inspiration to imagine better futures.

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Hardback

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art

Marcia Langton, Judith Ryan

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art stares into the dark heart of Australia's brutal colonial history and offers new insights into the first art of this country.

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Hardback

Words to Sing the World Alive

Jasmin McGaughey

An exquisite celebration of First Nations languages from a selection of Australia's finest Indigenous writers, all wrapped up in a handsome hardback that's perfect for Christmas gift giving.

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Paperback

Shapeshifting

Jeanine Leane (ed.), Ellen van Neerven (ed.)

A ground-breaking essay collection that shifts the shape of what First Nations writing can be and do in Australia today

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Paperback

Health: Spirit, Country and Culture (First Knowledges)

Shawana Andrews, Fiona Stanley, Sandra Eades

What do you need to know to prosper as a people for 65,000 years or more? The First Knowledges series provides a deep understanding of the expertise, wisdom and ingenuity…

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Paperback

Long Yarn Short

Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

A blockbuster memoir from one of Australia's most powerful voices, Long Yarn Short is the incredible story of a young woman's journey - from being stolen from her family as…

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Paperback

Bina: First Nations Languages Old and New

Gari Tudor-Smith, Paul Williams, Felicity Meakins

The remarkable story of Australia's First Nations Languages, from precolonial times to the present

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Paperback

Always Was, Always Will Be

Thomas Mayo

In Always Was, Always Will Be, bestselling author Thomas Mayo investigates ‘what's next?’ for reconciliation and justice in Australia after the failed October 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum.

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Hardback

Karkalla at Home

Mindy Woods

Experience the incredible wealth of First Nations foods in everyday recipes for home cooks and families.

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Paperback

Jilya

Tracy Westerman

A powerful memoir that explores how one Indigenous woman from the Pilbara transformed psychology

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Paperback

Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media

Amy McQuire

A searing indictment of the media's failures in reporting Indigenous affairs - and a powerful corrective that shows how Black journalism can pave the way for equality and justice.

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Paperback

Human?

Ziggy Ramo

A groundbreaking, provocative call-to-arms by acclaimed Wik artist Ziggy Ramo, Human? invites readers to confront this nation's biggest lie.

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Paperback

Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra

Bruce Pascoe, Lyn Harwood

'Sometimes you need to repeat something a hundred times before a bell rings in the colony.'

From the bestselling author Bruce Pascoe comes a deeply personal story about the consequences…

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Paperback

Shakespeare on the Noongar Stage: Language Revival and Hecate

Clint Bracknell, Kylie Bracknell

The first adaption of a complete Shakespeare play entirely in one Australian Aboriginal language, this books track the passionate project of language recovery and restoration into a highly successful mainstage…

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Paperback

Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1860

Richard Broome

The story of how Victoria's First Nations people survived near decimation to become a vibrant community today. This second edition has been fully updated, and covers the Yoorrook Justice Commission…

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Hardback

On Kim Scott: Writers on Writers

Tony Birch

An illuminating essay on the bestselling Noongar writer and author of the Miles Franklin Award-winning novels Benang and That Deadman Dance

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Paperback

Telling

Nairm Marr Djambana, Aboriginal Corporation

The 12 short life stories in Telling are grounded in First Nations storytelling traditions and reveal the diverse and complex nature of the experience of living in the wake of…

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Hardback

Marcia Langton: Welcome to Country 2nd edition

Marcia Langton

The second edition of this landmark travel guide, written by one of this country’s most highly respected First Nations voices.

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Paperback

Innovation: Knowledge and Ingenuity (First Knowledges)

Ian J McNiven, Lynette Russell

In the first book to detail Indigenous innovations in Australia, Ian J McNiven and Lynette Russell showcase this legacy of First Nations peoples and how they offer resourceful ways of…

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First Nations Food Companion

Damien Coulthard, Rebecca Sullivan

A groundbreaking celebration of the most accessible and popular Australian native ingredients and their uses in the everyday home kitchen.

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Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling

Larissa Behrendt, Fiona Foley

Now included in UQP's First Nations Classics series with an introduction by Fiona Foley, Finding Eliza is a vital Indigenous perspective on colonial storytelling.

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Hardback

Gunyah, Goondie & Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia

Paul Memmott

Here is the definitive guide to Australian Indigenous architecture, comprehensively updated to showcase the flourishing Indigenous design practices reshaping Australia’s architectural landscape.

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Paperback

Right Story, Wrong Story

Tyson Yunkaporta

The award-winning author of Sand Talk returns with a formidably original yarn with Indigenous thought leaders from around the globe

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Paperback

Finding the Heart of the Nation 2nd edition

Thomas Mayo

In this updated edition of the bestselling book, Finding the Heart of the Nation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander author Thomas Mayor gets behind the politics and legal speak…

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Paperback

The Dreaming Path

Paul Callaghan, Uncle Paul Gordon

The Dreaming Path has always been there, but in the modern-day world, it can be hard to find. There are so many demands on us - family, health, bills, a…

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Paperback

Sand Talk

Tyson Yunkaporta

This remarkable book is about everything from echidnas to evolution, cosmology to cooking, sex and science and spirits to Schroedinger's cat.

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Paperback

The Welcome to Country Handbook

Marcia Langton

The definitive book that introduces readers from all backgrounds to First Nations histories and cultures.

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Kuracca

Us Mob Writing

Kuracca - meaning white sulphur crested cockatoo - is a multi-lingual anthology featuring eleven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women writing poetry, prose, songs and stories about their unique lives.

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Paperback

The Queen is Dead

Stan Grant

From Stan Grant, leading journalist and author of the critically acclaimed bestsellers Talking to My Country and Australia Day, comes an extraordinary and powerful call to action.

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Grog War

Alexis Wright

Miles Franklin award - winning author Alexis Wright recounts how a remote town in Australia dealt with the invasion of grog on their traditional lands. Wright describes the shocking effects…

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Law: The Way of the Ancestors (First Knowledges)

Marcia Langton, Aaron Corn

Law is culture, and culture is law. Given by the ancestors and cultivated over millennia, Indigenous law defines what it is to be human. Complex and evolving, law holds the…

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Dark Emu

Bruce Pascoe

Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians.

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Paperback

Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity

Ellen van Neerven

Ellen van Neerven's first work of nonfiction, Personal Score, is a ground-breaking look at sport on this continent from a First Nations and queer perspective.

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Plants: Past, Present and Future (First Knowledges)

Zena Cumpston, Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Lesley Head

Plants: Past, Present and Future celebrates the deep cultural significance of plants and shows how engaging with this heritage could be the key to a healthier, more sustainable future.

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Sister Girl: Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconciliation (New Edition)

Jackie Huggins

A new edition of seminal Tiddaist classic by Murri historian and activist Jackie Huggins, featuring timely and compelling speeches and essays.

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Paperback

Australia Day

Stan Grant

‘As uncomfortable as it is, we need to reckon with our history. On January 26, no Australian can really look away.’

Since publishing his critically acclaimed, Walkley Award-winning, bestselling memoir…

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Paperback

Songspirals: Sharing Women’s Wisdom of Country Through Songlines

Gay'wu Group of Women

Songspirals is a rare opportunity for outsiders to experience Aboriginal women’s role in crying the songlines in a very authentic and direct form.

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Songlines: The Power and Promise (First Knowledges)

Margo Neale, Lynne Kelly

Weaving deeply personal storytelling with extensive research on mnemonics, Songlines: The Power and Promise offers unique insights into Indigenous traditional knowledges, how they apply today and how they could help…

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Paperback

Another Day in the Colony

Chelsea Watego

A ground-breaking work - and a call to arms - that exposes the ongoing colonial violence experienced by First Nations people.

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Hardback

Murli la - Songs and stories of the Tiwi Islands

Ngarukuruwala Women's Group

A beautiful book that brings many lifetimes of sung Tiwi knowledge to the page for the first time.

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Paperback

First Australians

Marcia Langton, Rachel Perkins

The dramatic story of the collision of two worlds that created contemporary Australia. It begins in 1788 in Warrane, now known as Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishman, Governor…

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Paperback

The Old Songs are Always New

Genevieve Campbell

Approximately 1300 ethnographic field recordings of Tiwi songs, made between 1912 and 1981, are archived at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra.

In…

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Paperback

Astronomy: Sky Country (First Knowledges)

Karlie Noon, Krystal De Napoli

What do you need to know to prosper for 65,000 years or more? The First Knowledges series provides a deeper understanding of the expertise and ingenuity of Indigenous Australians.

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Country: Future Fire, Future Farming (First Knowledges)

Bill Gammage, Bruce Pascoe

What do you need to know to prosper as a people for at least 65,000 years? The First Knowledges series provides a deeper understanding of the expertise and ingenuity of…

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Paperback

True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture

Terri Janke

Indigenous cultures are not terra nullius - nobody’s land, free to be taken. Using real-world cases and personal stories, True Tracks is a ground-breaking work that paves the way for…

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Paperback

Design: Building on Country (First Knowledges)

Alison Page, Paul Memmott

Aboriginal design is of a distinctly cultural nature, based in the Dreaming and in ancient practices grounded in Country.Alison Page and Paul Memmott show how these design principles of sophisticated…

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Paperback

Lies, Damned Lies: A Personal Exploration of the Impact of Colonisation

Claire G. Coleman

A deeply personal exploration of Australia’s colonisation past, present and future by one of Australia’s finest contemporary authors.

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Australian First Nations nonfiction books

Indigenous Knowledge: Australian Perspectives

marramarra

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art

Words to Sing the World Alive

Shapeshifting

Health: Spirit, Country and Culture (First Knowledges)

Long Yarn Short

Bina: First Nations Languages Old and New

Always Was, Always Will Be

Karkalla at Home

Jilya

Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media

Human?

Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra

Shakespeare on the Noongar Stage: Language Revival and Hecate

Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1860

On Kim Scott: Writers on Writers

Telling

Marcia Langton: Welcome to Country 2nd edition

Innovation: Knowledge and Ingenuity (First Knowledges)

First Nations Food Companion

Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling

Gunyah, Goondie & Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia

Right Story, Wrong Story

Finding the Heart of the Nation 2nd edition

The Dreaming Path

Sand Talk

The Welcome to Country Handbook

Kuracca

The Queen is Dead

Grog War

Law: The Way of the Ancestors (First Knowledges)

Dark Emu

Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity

Plants: Past, Present and Future (First Knowledges)

Sister Girl: Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconciliation (New Edition)

Australia Day

Songspirals: Sharing Women’s Wisdom of Country Through Songlines

Songlines: The Power and Promise (First Knowledges)

Another Day in the Colony

Murli la - Songs and stories of the Tiwi Islands

First Australians

The Old Songs are Always New

Astronomy: Sky Country (First Knowledges)

Country: Future Fire, Future Farming (First Knowledges)

True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture

Design: Building on Country (First Knowledges)

Lies, Damned Lies: A Personal Exploration of the Impact of Colonisation