Black Books

Black Books was set up in 1982 as a bookshop and advisory centre in Tranby Aboriginal College, at Glebe in Sydney. People at Tranby saw a great need for resources and advice on or by Aboriginal people. Schools were under pressure to teach Aboriginal Studies at that time, but without the funds or experience to get the best resources.

Many books on the market were either racist or exploitative; others offered a view of Aboriginal people which was inaccurate, simplistic or just plain wrong. Some books had material that may have been secret/sacred, and the permission of the traditional owners had not apparently been sought. The Tranby Board and staff also saw a growth in the publications of white experts, some of which were very good, but which threatened to swamp Aboriginal authors. Tranby’s goal was to empower Aboriginal voices to be heard by promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors.

So, in mid-1982 a small bookshop was set up in a front room at Tranby. Kathy Campbell initiated the idea, as Kevin Cook recalled in his book Making Change Happen, and invited Dave Morrissey and others to review books. Strong early supporters for Black books included Maria MacKell and Gleebooks.

Blackbooks looked at all the generally available books - around 300 - and asked around for the opinions of Aboriginal and Islander people, of schools and departments, and of non-Aboriginal people who were familiar with the literature and issues. A catalogue was produced in 1983. This was been revised several times and over 6,000 copies were distributed to schools, organisations, communities and individuals. Most sales were through the catalogue - with mail orders, often from remote areas, being the bulk of the work. 

The areas covered in the catalogue included - pre-contact history (archaeology, languages), post-contact history, current issues (Land rights, education etc), Aboriginal and Islander authors, children’s books, art, audio-visual materials and reference books. Black books also sold posters, maps, cassettes, flags, t-shirts and jewellery. Order forms and catalogues were available on request. 

In 1990 there were three Aboriginal staff, including Cathie Banton (trainee manager) and a program to train more Aboriginal people in bookshop and office management. Tony Duke was the projects co-ordinator of Black Books and later coordinator. (Extracts from the Tranby Yearbook 1990). 

Putting into practice its commitment to promoting Indigenous authors, Blackbooks tendered and won the contract from the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council to organise the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers’ Workshop, called ‘Our Words – Our Ways’. Through Kevin Cook’s networks with the Federation of Land Councils, including Victorian activist Geoff Clark, the workshop was held at Badja Badja, the Brambuk Cultural Centre at Geriwerd in the Grampians during December 1992. Nadia Wheatley attended as a representative of the Australian Society of Authors and wrote later about the workshop.

Anita Heiss has called it the ‘springboard’ for later conferences and workshops, explaining that the event was coordinated by Tony Duke and Sandra Phillips through Blackbooks as part of Tranby Co-operative for Aborigines. It was framed as a workshop because, as Sandra Phillips explained to the writers who had come: ‘the emphasis will be on sharing and participation as opposed to theory and analysis.’ 

As well as issues within the industry like funding and copyright, practical workshops were led by writers including Richard Walley, Jackie Huggins and Kathy Kum Sing in the genres of fiction, play writing, women’s writing and comic writing. Other workshop sessions were conducted on editing, creative writing, academic writing, writing for radio, film and television and on political writing. All were led by experienced writers including Bob Maza, Eve Fesl and Lionel Fogarty along with Gerry and Lester Bostock and Eva Johnson. (Heiss, 2003, Duuluu-Yala: To Talk Straight. Publishing Indigenous Literature, Aboriginal Studies Press, p 142, citing Phillips from her address to participants).

Early in 1993, the first New South Wales Indigenous Youth Conference was to be held in Wollongong, as a precursor to the Second World Indigenous Youth Conference to be held in Darwin in July. Blackbooks was asked to organise the Wollongong conference, setting up an organising committee involving Tranby students as well as staff. Fiona Smith was one of those students, and has remembered this as a major learning time for her. Not only were the topics of the coming conference important to all young people, but she gained experience in planning and organising a major event. The conference brought young Aboriginal people from all over NSW and it worked very well despite some dramas. Even more important, she was asked to chair a session, showing that the Tranby staff recognised the responsibility she was taking and had confidence in her work. Fiona recalled that Wollongong conference in a 2019 interview:  

I just remember it was a really exciting time for a lot of the younger fellas that came, but I think for me it was more a working experience. It was the first time that I'd actually been involved in anything like that, being involved with the organising committee and actually understanding what an agenda was. They used to have the committee meetings here [Tranby] in that front room, Bonnie Briggs was there, Tony Duke, Kerry Gilbert, Jack Beetson. It was a new experience for me. I was understanding what the purpose of a conference was about, people presenting papers and discussing and talking about issues. I remember doing that and going, 'Oh I learnt something about myself, I like the big picture, I might be in here somewhere but I need to understand the big picture' and that was something that I realised then and I just sort of went on to be the coordinator of the homework centre and just different things like that, you know?

The World Indigenous Youth Conference was held in Darwin and Fiona and a number of fellow students went to it. The theme was Claiming Our Future: the reality of where we are and where we are going. The conference was attended by over 2000 young Indigenous people from 29 countries around the world, including not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders but also Cree (Indian) and Inuit (Eskimo) from America, the Saami people of Norway and Sweden, Papua-New Guineans, Pacific Islanders, East Timorese, Indigenous South Americans, the Ainu from Japan, the Dalit from India, and myriad tribal representatives from the Philippines. Participants brought a wide range of cultural expression, including craft works and performances, like the Filipino cultural dance group Kulay Lupa who performed for their fellow participants.

Over a week of workshops and discussions, the conference was addressed by elders like Bill Neidjie from Kakadu, NT, and Matthew Cooncome, the Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees, as well as leaders of the future like Greg Phillips, from Mt Isa, Queensland, and the Maori youth Hanimoa Awatere. (Mark Mordue: Report to the Reconciliation Council, Australia, on the Second World Indigenous Youth Conference) The NSW delegation, including Fiona, presented the recommendations of the Wollongong conference for discussion and eventually for incorporation into the World Conference concluding statement. 

LINKS

→ Gleebooks
→ Black Books Catalogue 1992 [PDF 683KB]
→ Interview: Cathie Banton in Tranby newsletter 1994
→ Interview: Cathie Banton in Koorie Mail 1994
→ Article: Nadia Wheatley on the Bambruk Conference Dec 1992 Our Words-Our Ways Writers’ Workshop
→ Article: Tranby’s vision a lead for youth. Glebe and Western Weekly story and photo at Tranby (30 March 1993) of the planning group, NSW Indigenous Youth Conference.