Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature

Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature. Anita Heiss & Peter Minier, eds. Crows Nest, NSW. Allen & Unwin / Macquarie University. 2008. xviii + 260 pages. AU$39.95. ISBN 978-1-74175-498-4

The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature is a groundbreaking collection of literary, cultural, and historical importance. It is the first of its kind, covering over two centuries of Australian Aboriginal writing. It opens with the first known text written in English by an indigenous Australian (1796), a letter from a Wangal leader called Bennelong inquiring after the well-being of his sponsor, who has returned to Britain. Like many of the early texts in this anthology - letters, petitions, political documents - the writing is unexpectedly compelling: Bennelong's letter reads like a short story. That the lyricism...