Erika Charola

Back in February I stumbled on this copy of Yijarni, True Stories from Gurindji Country at my library where it was on display, and decided to hoard my review until Indigenous Literature Week where I think/hope it might get more readers than usual. It’s a fascinating book because it is entirely bilingual in an Aboriginal language, something I have not come across before (although I have read bilingual elements and partial accounts in some indigenous life stories).
Yijarni, however – apart from the introduction by the editors, a one page context-setting English introduction to each chapter and some historical addenda linking archival records with the stories – consists of accounts from its contributors (listed in the publication details below) in their own Gurindji language, with the translation (by a team of translators listed below) beside it on the page. (It’s a big book of 246 pages, about 25cm square, and the layout is in columns). The book includes helpful maps, and many vivid archival and contemporary photographs both B&W and in colour. There are art works created in response to the stories by Indigenous artists (listed below), and Indigenous people too many to name contributed historical sites guidance as well. This huge team of contributors come to life in photo portraits on pages viii-ix (which is another reason why there is a cultural warning in the introductory pages).
The Introduction explains that the Gurindji people of the Victoria River District in the Northern Territory are mostly known because of the Gurindji Walk-Off in 1966, which led to the landmark pastoral industry equal wages case and the historic Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. But this book is about Black History prior to the 1960s, which for the Gurindji people is divided into Puwarraja, the Dreamtime, and Yijarni, true stories, and these true stories are not filtered by other voices such as historians, activists, police journals, life stories of cattlemen or other locals. Nor are the stories first-hand accounts rendered in broken English restricting their scope. Recorded in the Gurindji language and translated, they are authentic oral accounts recounting shared knowledge, as known or as told to the storyteller, each with an elder as ‘witness’ to monitor and confirm the details. These histories are augmented with archival material from police records, newspapers, biographies of early settlers and other published oral histories of the Victoria River District.
The chapter headings show the scope of the book:
* Introduction
* Before the Arrival of Europeans
* The Killing Times
* Malyalyimalyalyi/Lipanangku: The First Wave Hill Station
* Jinparrak: The Seond Site for Wave Hill Station
* The Wave Hill Settlement
* Early Policemen and Trackers
The chapter ‘Before the Arrival of the Europeans’ is fascinating. There is a story about Waringarri (War Parties), another about mermaids, and another about Pulngayit Jangkarni (The Great Flood) an event which is reflected by the archaeological record of sea levels rising and major river flooding.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/07/11/yijarni-true-stories-from-gurindji-country-e...… (mer)