Product Description

In 1982 Sally Morgan travelled to her grandmother's birthplace, Corunna Downs Station in Western Australia. She wants to trace the experiences of her childhood andolescence in Perth in the 1950's. Through memories and images, hints and echoes begin to emerge and another story unfolds - the mystery of her aboriginal identity. Gradually her whole family is drawn in to the saga and her great-uncle, her mother and finally her grandmother tell their stories in turn. MY PLACE is a work of great humour, humanity and courage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36011 in Books
• Published on: 1988-10-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

Review
'This sad and funny book is of inestimable value in comprehending the solid relatedness of the global community, the 'oneness' of spirit shared by all 'aboriginal' peoples' - Alic Walker 'The sort of Australian history which hasn't been written before and which we so desperately need' - Weekend Australian

About the Author
Sally Morgan was born in Perth in 1951.

Customer Reviews

Australia's aboriginal people genocide from the inside
Sydney's olympics are close and less than 400 000 aboriginal Australian people have survived. In this very touching book, Sally Morgan, who is from aboriginal origin, tells how genocide has hit her own family. Slavery, rape, stolen children, the loss of the sacred link with motherland and poverty are told to the heroin/writer when she tries to know more about her own ancestors. It's her grandma, the old Nan, who holds the key to that genocide story seldom told. Being a french reader, I first read this book in my langage, but the power and the pain inside of it goes far beyond langage. Between autobiography and novel, "My place" reminds us of all genocides, past and present, from Australian aboriginal people to American Indians, from Hutus and Tutsis to Tchetchensq or the people of East Timor.

Surrogacy of the Self
The pain one feels reading this novel is not from the horrors contained within it, but the lives and histories occluded from the main body of text. The four narratives which comprise the novel - show the barbarism perpetrated on the aboriginal people - affecting every subsequent generation in different ways. Sally, unaware of her mixed heritage, had puzzles to fill on both sides of her identity (aboriginal & european), as she has both english and aboriginal names.
It is difficult to write about these people as characters - because this is autobiography. Nevertheless, the 'character' of Sally's grandmother - whose clipped narration ends the novel - is truly one of the most tragic in its helplessness. Sally Morgan writes with verve, and sadness. This book is an absolute triumph. You will be sad for it to end, in as much as you'll love the characters. However, you will be glad that people of aboriginal heritage today do not have to suffer like those of Sally's grandmother's generation.