Here we will learn more about this fascinating culture.

The Aborigines have been in Australia for around 60 thousand years and have built up an incredible culture. The European settlement of Australia did not start until 1788.

Every culture has its own stories.

Ask us about the book of 33 Aboriginal stories, Gadi Mirrabooka, which was published by a division of Heinemann in Libraries Unlimited World Folklore Series covering sixty-five countries.

Some early European anthropologists who had arrived to study the Aboriginal people, brought some of the “secret men’s and secret women’s stories”, and “secret, sacred stories”, back with them and published them.

An unfortunate lack of understanding, by outsiders, of the significance of these special stories, which the Aboriginal people regarded as sacred and part of their cultural property, greatly offended the Aboriginal people. They had shared their deepest secrets with these men and their permission to share, or publish them, had not been sought!

Note: It is courteous, if you find an Australian Aboriginal story you wish to tell, to always attempt to find the source and ask permission from the Aboriginal Elders, to tell it.

Helen McKay is an Australian author of four published books and many articles. Gadi Mirrabooka was written and edited by Helen F. McKay. Aboriginal Elders, Storytelling Custodians, June Barker, Francis Firebrace, and Pauline McLeod, told the sacred creation and traditional stories included in this book. See more details at www.gadimirrabooka.com.

As well as 33 stories, the book contains:

Overview of Australia:

Geography:
The Land, The Geographic Regions, How Climate Affected the Aborigines, The Megafauna, The Fauna, The Flora.

The Aboriginal People:
The People and the Land, Walkabout, The Corroboree, Ceremonial Walkabouts, Trade, Transportation.

Customs:
The Totemic System, Aboriginal Art, Storytelling, Music, Dance, Education, Language, Impact of Europeans on the Language.

Recent History:
Early Visitors, European Invasion and Colonization, Story of a Removed Child

Cambridge University Press, a prestigious UK textbook publisher, tell us that extracts from this book are planned to be included in a world wide English tutorial book, Cambridge Global English Stage 8, to be released in 2021.

Helen McKay