by Boomert - My People's Dreaming by Max Dulumunmun Harrison & Peter McConchie 12 Jan 2010

This is a truly beautiful book. Indigenous elder Max Dulumunmun Harrison matches evocative ‘story poetry’ with Peter McConchie’s stunning visual bush photographs. It is unsurprising to see an acknowledgement to the Sydney Zen Centre, as the work is clearly an account or philosophy of how to live based on 80,000-plus years of aboriginal experience. Like many histories and philosophies, this is in danger of being lost. Containing detailed photographs of the Australian bush, with a clarity and atmosphere so arresting they could be the sole reason to live with this book, the images link the text with Aboriginal lore and law, and above all the love of the land. The work describes very simply, by anecdote and history, how Aboriginals developed, and continue to have, a ‘joining’ with the land, encouraging a bond between tribes and establishing a sustainable way of life. A constant theme is the interknit of people and land, and that if the land is not cared for, the people will suffer the consequences.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (October 2009, Vol 89, No. 3) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker.