A Piece of Red Cloth

Join celebrated NT author and CDU PhD graduate Leonie Norrington as she discusses the conception, research, consultation and creation of A Piece of Red Cloth, a novel based on oral stories passed down through generations of Yolŋu people and co-authored by cultural custodians Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru.

About the Book:

Long before the white settlement of Australia, the Yolŋu people traded trepang with the Macassans of Sulawesi, who were under Dutch rule. This powerful, unique novel based on oral histories tells the story of a grandmother who stops at nothing to protect her granddaughter. 

It's early in the wet season. A flock of crested terns sweeps into the bay and dives towards Batjani. The birds are saying the foreigners are coming, as they do every year, but why are they so full of menace?

Batjani's beloved granddaughter Garritji is on the cusp of womanhood, about to go through the rituals preparing her for marriage. Batjani uses all means at her disposal to protect her granddaughter from the visiting Macassan trepang fishers, but she is betrayed. Can Garritji be saved?

This powerful and unique novel, told through Yolŋu eyes, with ancestors as the Yolŋu remember them: proud, strong, resilient people in control of their world and interacting with foreigners on their own terms.

'Told through the voices of the people who know it best, all those deeply important events from times long before Cook imagined a Southern Land.' - Debra Dank

'We've been waiting a long time for a book like this ... [A] breathtaking re-imagining of history and place.' - Nicholas Jose

Launch & Availability

Don’t miss the book launch at the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory (MAGNT) on Saturday, 22 February, from 11 am-12 pm. 

The novel is now available for purchase at The Bookshop Darwin and online at Allen & Unwin Book Publishers, Red Kangaroo Books and Amazon (kindle version). 

Author

Dr Leonie Norrington is a multi-award-winning North Australian author who grew up in the Barunga community in Arnhem Land and was adopted by Yolngu Elder Clare Bush. Under Clare Bush’s supervision, Leonie wrote fourteen children’s and young adult novels. Many of these novels were shortlisted for or won major Australian literary awards. Leonie writes in a mix of English, Kriol and Indigenous languages for children, teens and adults. Her stories are a beautifully conceived reflection of the life in remote NT, black and white characters merge, lives are entwined, there is no racial issue, merely different ways of looking. A TV series based on The Barrumbi Kids is available on Netflix. 

Registration

In-person only: Please RSVP here to attend in person—limited seating (30ppl). 
RSVP to attend in person

Getting there

Savanna Room @ Northern Institute
CDU Casuarina Campus
Yellow Building 1, Level 2, Room 48

Google Maps location or How to get to Savanna Room.

^{Access: If you have any additional access or support requirements, please contact us. The Savanna Room is accessible using a lift or one flight of stairs through an automatic door. There is a wheelchair-accessible bathroom on Level 2 and a baby change room on Level 1 (ground floor).}