Indigenous publishers give voice to previously unheard stories (fwd link)

[phil cash cash]

Indigenous publishers give voice to previously unheard stories

Victoria Laurie | December 30, 2008
Article from:  The Australian

TWO decades ago, the seeds of Kimberley publishing sprouted from the bush
banana, or magabala, known in scientific circles as Marsdenia viridiflora. The
Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre gave the name to Magabala Books,
the region's first tentative publishing venture.

Magabala was born out of frustration: Aboriginal elders had gathered at a
culture centre bush ceremony in 1983 and lamented that their stories were not
being published or, if they were, only through the filter of non-indigenous
publishers.

So Magabala became a permanent fixture and its first substantial book appeared
in 1987. Mayi: Some Bush Fruits of Dampierland by Merrilee Lands was the first
account of the Kimberley's extraordinary botanical riches as seen from an
indigenous point of view. Whitefella science no longer had a monopoly on
interpreting the fauna and flora of the Kimberley region.

Access full article below:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24853512-5001986,00.html