Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy
Clare Wright
‘A masterpiece.’ Thomas Mayo
In 1963—a year of agitation for civil rights worldwide—the Yolŋu of northeast Arnhem Land created the Yirrkala Bark Petitions: Naku Dharuk. ‘The land grew a tongue’ and the land-rights movement was born.
Naku Dharuk is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy and the trailblazers who made it. It is also a pulsating picture of the ancient and enduring culture of Australia’s first peoples.
And it is a masterful, groundbreaking history.
Clare Wright’s Democracy Trilogy began with The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka and continued with You Daughters of Freedom. It concludes with this compulsively readable account of a momentous episode in our shared story.
‘A landmark history.’ Mark McKenna
INTERVIEWS and REVIEWS
Conversation (op-ed)
andNaku Dharuk The Bark Petitions
‘This is officially the first history of the Uluru Statement era: the very messy story of power, subjugation and co-existence told by a brilliant historian. Clare Wright pioneers a way forward for the nation, starting with voice. The genesis of the right to be heard started with a bark petition.’
‘A masterpiece.’
‘A story that cannot be forgotten [by] one of Australia’s most revered historians.’
‘A masterful and definitive account of one of the most important political documents in Australian history. Wright brings to life this moving story of unwavering Yolngu resistance and the enduring legacy of their political actions.’
‘Stunningly beautiful…I am in awe of this book. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read.’
‘A major contribution…This is Australian political history in its most urgent form.’
‘A stunning work of history. Deep and rich, complex and expansive.’
‘Meticulous, fair, important and powerful.’
‘Charged with wit, compassion and integrity…a shimmering force.’
‘Clare Wright is the most remarkable and striking voice working on recovering the lost and forgotten pages of Australian history. Her work, as accessible as it is scholarly, is of the greatest importance.’
‘Of monumental importance.’
‘An impossibly important book.’
