28 July 2006
The difficulties that existed between white and Aboriginal Australians during the mid-20th century are depicted in a compelling new book that revisits the story of bushman Daryl Tonkin, who lived among Aboriginal timber workers in the great Gippsland forest in the 1950s and 1960s.
Jackson's Track Revisited, published by Monash University ePress, will be launched on 10 August.
It is the sequel to the highly acclaimed and award-winning book Jackson's Track: Memoir of a Dreamtime Place written by Carolyn Landon and Daryl Tonkin. In it Carolyn Landon returns to the story of Daryl Tonkin, but this time told from the perspective of his daughter Pauline Mullett.
Daryl Tonkin (born 1918) and his older brother Harry set up a timber mill in 1937 at Jackson's Track near Warragul in West Gippsland, Victoria. Daryl fell in love and married Euphie, an Aboriginal woman. Together they had nine children. His tale is one of living with the Aboriginal people at Jackson's Track at a time when assimilation policies prevailed.
In Jackson's Track Revisited Carolyn Landon explores the motives of all the players in Daryl's story, and even revisits Daryl's own memories. The roles of assimilation policies, the Victorian Aborigines Welfare Board and the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League are investigated. This concise book contains many surprises, with the new stories taking complex twists and turns. As Ms Landon seeks others' interpretations of events, she also analyses her own changing understandings, uncovering the prejudices she, as researcher and historian, has brought to the project.
Monash University ePress Manager Ms Michele Sabto said the book was a must-read for those who were captivated by the original story of Daryl Tonkin.
"Jackson's Track Revisited, with its different ways of understanding and telling history, is about classic historiographical concerns -- the status of memory, archives, oral history and the importance of understanding history as multiple stories," Ms Sabto said.
"It is a tribute to Carolyn's skills as a writer that even though it deals in these big themes, it is still an intimate and gripping read."
Jackson's Track Revisited is published both as a print-to-order paperback and an ebook (rrp $22.95). Copies can be ordered via the ePress website or purchased at major bookstores.
Carolyn is a guest at the Melbourne Writer's Festival and the Warragul Writers' Festival (22 August).
What: Launch of Jackson's Track Revisited: History, Remembrance and Reconciliation
Who: Launched by historian Professor Graeme Davison. Special guest Pauline Mullett.
When: Thursday, 10 August, 6pm for 6.30pm
Where: Readings Bookshop, 309 Lygon Street, Carlton.
RSVP: Sarah Cannon on (03) 9905 0526 or email: sarah.cannon@lib.monash.edu.au
For a copy of the book for review, or to arrange an interview, contact Sarah Cannon on +61 3 9905 0526, or Karen Stichtenoth, Media Communications on +61 3 9905 1253 or 0408 812 301.
| 
