’When we all came together at Uluru, we invited all Australian people to accept our voice and culture as a gift.’
Can you help us find the heart of the nation?
A book about understanding Australia’s past, so we can have a shared future.
Thomas Mayo is a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin. As an Islander growing up on the mainland, he learned to hunt traditional foods with his father and to island dance from the Darwin community of Torres Strait Islanders. In high school, Thomas’s English teacher suggested he should become a writer. He didn’t think then that he would become one of the first ever Torres Strait Islander authors to have a book published for the general trade. Instead, he became a wharf labourer from the age of seventeen, until he became a union official for the Maritime Union of Australia in his early thirties. Quietly spoken in character, Thomas found his voice on the wharves. As he gained the skills of negotiation and organising in the union movement, he applied those skills to advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples, becoming a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a tireless campaigner. Following the Uluru Convention, Thomas was entrusted to carry the sacred canvas of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He then embarked on an eighteen-month journey around the country to garner support for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice, and a Makarrata Commission for truth-telling and agreement-making or treaties. Thomas is the author of Finding The Heart of The Nation, Dear Son and the children’s books – Finding Our Heart and Freedom Day.
Bio courtesy of Hardie Grant Explore
Born Adam Douglas Hill to an Aboriginal father of the Dhungatti People and an Irish-Australian mother, Blak Douglas is trained in illustration and photography, and became a self-taught painter. His artistic style is influenced by the study of graphic design and his focus on social justice. He is the winner of the 2017 Kilgour Prize, the 2021 STILL: National Still Life Award and 2022 Archibald Prize. Douglas is also a classically trained didgeridoo player, and has performed nationally and internationally, including at the Deadly Awards, the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony, Yabun Festival and the Welcome for Nelson Mandela.
Photo courtesy of Hardie Grant Explore
Author Thomas Mayo
Illustrator Blak Douglas
Publisher Hardie Grant Publishing
Date of Publication 2020
ISBN 9781741177176
Category Children's Books
40
