Maralinga: The Anangu story: Yalata and Oak Valley Communities with Christobel Mattingley.

Fitzsimmons, Phil

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While literature always reflects the cultural currents and tensions of the society in which it was written, at this period of 'narrative time' Australian children's literature particularly manifests cultural strains of a nation freeing itself from its deep-rooted colonial history. While Maralinga: The Anangu Story also echoes this cultural shift it is not only quite different in format to the indigenous-based narratives that can be currently found, but also provides a sense of hope and empowerment in an area which is often believed to tend towards negativity and loss. In the telling of the history and culture of the Anangu people and their forced removal from their traditional land which is now the current site of the notorious Maralinga nuclear testing site in South Australia, the most noticeable and refreshing difference in this text is its use of a variety of text forms. Utilising a report-like format as an underpinning ongoing format, layered over each section is an array of children's narrative artwork, indigenous paintings, photographs, recounts, inserts of specific cultural details and historical information. This blend of different text types forms a powerful multi-voiced narrative. However, the overall story is still a succinct retell of the overall changes in the Anangu People's contexts and how they dealt with the ongoing invasions and successive stages of destruction of their traditional lands.

Through the visual and textual retelling of each of these transitions the narrative voice of this text becomes even more focussed through the use of the traditional artwork, powerful black and white photographs overlayed onto the artwork, which then leads into use of colour photographs. This shift is also paralleled by an ongoing series of 'matter-of-fact' descriptions of not only the falsehoods that underpinned the start of the atomic tests at Maralinga (again arising from the colonial 'Motherland') but also the rise of problems and issues that began to impact on the younger Anangu generation. While the subject matter is confronting, the language has been carefully crafted with a straightforward tenor. This not only serves to make the text's messages even more authentic, but also more engaging. This language use and accompanying entwined layers of visual narrative serves to create a stark contrast between this dispossessed people and the love of their homeland and the ongoing interface with the original colonial settlers and ensuing 'white' development.

On a personal level, I found I was constantly drawn into the comparison between these people and the natural environment of their homeland. Both people and place reflect an expanse of calm, a sense of purpose arising out of a sense of community connected to the natural world and the belied that keeping their narrative alive will regenerate hope as well as forge connections with the wider Australian society.

This book also offers numerous possibilities for literacy demonstrations, both textual and visual, as well as providing a springboard into other areas such as art, science and personal development. Its organization also facilitates genuine integration amongst all of these key learning areas.

More importantly, although a story of one people, it is a story for all Australians.

Phil Fitzsimmons, Centre for Research in Language and Literacy, University of Wollongong