Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Thomas Mayor, Hardie Grant Travel, $39.99.
Looking to promote a better future for Indigenous Australian, Mayor has travelled around Australia since the Uluru Statement from the Heart was formed in 2017.
For Mayor, a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin, this is a journey of the statement towards Voice, Treaty and Truth. He has visited big and small communities, often with the Uluru Statement canvas rolled up in a tube under his arm.
The book explains the evolution of the statement, and the artwork on which it is depicted. It also narrates the progress of the statement around Aboriginal communities and how it reflects and engages with individual communities and their needs, story and intentions. The hardback is tangible, graphically illustrated and well shaped.
Through the story of his own journey and interviews with 20 key people, Thomas taps into a deep sense of our shared humanity. In the spirit of hope, strength and truth-telling, the personal stories of Aboriginal teachers and so many others are interwoven with the narratives of communities navigating profound questions of identity, history, belonging and empowerment.
While some names will be familiar, ‘many of those sharing their experience have been living and working beyond the usual sphere of mainstream media interest. This adds to the importance of the book in aiding non-Indigenous Australia in understanding the complexity of this land’s First Nations and the challenges imposed by Colonial systems and policies’.
You will also discover the emotional, intellectual and cultural strength of the Aboriginal people. The voices within these chapters make clear the statement’s importance. Read them, listen and join them in taking action if you “want to see substantive constitutional change”.
Not only does this opus come from the heart, but touches it as well!
