Every Hill Got a Story

(Paperback)

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This collective memoir is for anyone who has ever wondered why Aboriginal people choose to live in remote communities in the heart of Australia. It is for all who want to truly understand why nyinanyi ngurangka being on country is not a lifestyle choice but a hard won right, a spiritual and cultural duty, a constant battle, a source of happiness and opportunity and the meaning of life all at the same time. Why some of the poorest Australians consider themselves rich with my family, rich with my country.

From living off the land to negotiating their place in the digital age,Every Hill Got A Story is the first comprehensive history of Central Australias Aboriginal people, as told in their own words and their many languages.

Heartbreaking, funny and poignant, 127 eminent men and women remember surviving first contact, massacres and forced removals and resisting more than a century of top-down government policies. Their testimonies, a taste of which are accessible as audio sound bites, paint a devastatingly honest picture of life and work on the missions, cattle stations and the fringes of towns. The storytellers also celebrate winning back ownership of more than 410,000 square kilometres of ancestral lands. They speak eloquently of their struggle for self-determination and citizen rights such as health, housing, education and freedom from violence.

Author Bio

The Central Land Council (CLC) is deeply entwined with the lives of the book's storytellers and their families. The CLC is a Commonwealth statutory authority governed by 90 Aboriginal delegates, elected by communities in the southern half of the Northern Territory. It has represented the interests of Aboriginal people against ongoing threats to their rights since 1975. It supports them to manage their land and to use income from it to strengthen their communities.

For more information about the CLC and the oral history project at the heart of Every Hill Got A Story go to www.clc.org.au.