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Australia's Black History
Australia’s Black History is a series of historical fiction books written by Steve Trotter. The novels explore the impact of colonization on the Australian Aboriginal people’s way of life in Ballina N.S.W. through the eyes of the traditional Bundjalung heroes and Gawngan.

Set in Bundjalung country, in the 1800s, the story revolves around a love triangle between and Dangan, two childhood sweethearts and a man that Gawngan is unwilling betrothed to. The stories intertwine Dreamtime stories with historical research to create a series of entertaining books for all ages to raise awareness about the impact of the British settlement of Australia and Aboriginal culture in Ballina, and to dispel the myths about the Aboriginal people being primitive hunters and gatherers.

The books were written in consultation with Nyangbal Elders, Glen Cook, Rick Cook, Eli Cook, Marcus Ferguson, Ashley Moran, Leonard Moran and Jason Sines, and draw on primary, secondary and tertiary historical sources, weaving Australian Frontier Conflict history, local history, Bundjalung language and myth together, to celebrate Aboriginal culture and to re-frame the colonialist version of the history of Australia. Academically, the series has been described as ‘a revisionist, Post Colonial interpretation of the invasion of Australia’, a description that is somewhat of a mouthful, but is insightfully accurate.

While the series’ plot revolves around the protagonist, Balagaan and his battles with the antagonist Dangan, to liberate his love interest, Gawngan, the subplot revolves around the impact of the British invasion on the Nyangbal people. The setting for the books incorporates significant Aboriginal sites from the Ballina area, like the enormous middens and fish traps beside North Creek, the axe quarry at Black Head, along with sacred sites, like Goanna Headland at Evans Head and the aerie at Nimbin Rocks. The series also references historical events, such as the arrival of the first explorer in the area, Henry Rous, the cedar cutting industry in the area, the Nyangbal people’s relationship with James Ainsworth and the South Ballina poisoning, and the massacre at Black Head.

'The Magpie and the Snake'
The first book, ‘The Magpie and the Snake’, a young adult+ novel, establishes the lifestyle of the First Nations People in Ballina, highlighting the importance of the Bullinaa site for not only the local Nyangbal people, but the wider Indigenous community. Bullinaa, meaning ‘place where seafood is plentiful’, was a gathering site for a regular festival, like the Bunya Nut Festival and Bogon Moth Festival in other parts of the country. ‘The Oyster Festival’ was hugely significant to the Aboriginal people in the area. Trade was conducted, marriages arranged, and feats of strength and skill were tested there, including the Tree Climbing Event and mock wars.

'Gawngan and the Marriage Tree'
The second book, ‘Gawngan and the Marriage Tree’, a Primary School+ novella, explores the traditional Bundjalung custom of marriage annulment. In this story, Gawngan must climb the Marriage Tree, remove the designated number of branches, and return safely to the ground in order to annul her marriage to Balagaan’s rival, Dangan.

'Savages'
The third book, ‘Savages’, a 15+ novel, follows on from the other two stories but examines the impact of the British invasion on the Nyangbal people and Aboriginal people across Australia. In it, the reader sees that everything that was established in the first book is dismantled and taken by the Yirraalii, the newcomers. By the 1850s the British had invaded the Bundjalung coastal lands and taken possession of Bullinaa. The peaceful Nyangbal people did not retaliate, they retreated into the scrub and watched. They watched, as the newcomers, built their villages, and annihilated ancient forests which they took away on their boats with wings. They watched as more Yiraallii arrived every day. They watched as the new Yiraallii built hard nets around the Nyangbal kangaroo farms and claimed the land for themselves; and worse, felt the brunt of the newcomers thunder sticks when they ventured onto the netted paddocks. They could no longer travel the Songlines to their seasonal camps, and as their territory shrank, their food supplies shrank with it. What follows is a fictitious recount of one of the most brutal massacres in Australia’s Frontier Wars by the Native Police, the East Ballina massacre, an event so shameful that Colonialist historians have reduced it to a distasteful footnote in Ballina’s history.

‘The Magpie and the Snake’
‘It’s like we’ve each got a piece of the puzzle but Trotter’s got them all and put them into a book.’  Lenny Moran, proud Nyangbal man from the Bundjalung Nation.

‘I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait for the sequel.’ Kerry Stevenson, retired Head Teacher Science.

'Gawngan and the Marriage Tree’
‘The book was AWESOME. I loved the suspense and the mystery of whether she would actually chop down the branches. I was engaged and intrigued by the start.’ - Jasmine, Year 6 Student

‘Savages’
‘Steve’s book is frickin' awesome, unputdownable!’ H. Welch

Similar works:
Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture Or Accident?, Magabala Books, 2014, ISBN 9781922142436