Raparapa: Stories from the Fitzroy River Drovers
By (Author) John Watson
By (author) Paul Marshall
Magabala Books
Magabala Books
28th January 2025
Australia
Paperback
336
Width 151mm, Height 210mm, Spine 29mm
410g
Raparapa is a raw and gritty history that captures the harsh realities endured by Aboriginal drovers in the Kimberley.
These storytellers capture a slice of history and showcase those who have persevered through impossible odds. Their strong work ethic is matched only by their love of the Kimberley countryside and the mighty Fitzroy River that flows through it. Mustering and droving across their traditional lands allowed these men to maintain their Law, culture and traditional land management practices. Sharing their personal stories, each drover touches upon different aspects of the cattle industry and, when fully read, encompasses the history of the industry as a whole.Non-Indigenous collaborator and editor Paul Marshall, is a conservationist originally hailing from Ipswich, Queensland. For two years, he travelled through Japan, Europe and Britain with the World Bike Ride for Peace promoting the film On Sacred Ground , campaigning for Australian Indigenous Land Rights. The film was about Aboriginal disadvantage and the struggle against the destruction of a sacred site at Nookanbah Station. This is the struggle from which the Kimberley Land Council was formed. In the mid-1980s, Paul was employed as Administrator of the Kimberley Land Council under the leadership of John Watson and it was from this association that Raparapa was born.