wongiWongi Wongi

by Judith Drake-Brockman

ISBN 0 85905 286 9, (2001 new), Soft Cover, 162pp, illustrated, 225grams

$22.00 + POST


In 1987 a part-Aboriginal author depicted the Drake-Brockman family as heartless exploiters of the Aboriginal people. For over a decade Miss Drake-Brockman and her family suffered these insults with dignity and reserve. Now she has spoken out.

wongi wongi tells a story, not of a people dispossessed, but a people loved and cared for by their employers. Wong Wongi is a personal history and account of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relationships supported by documentation from official files. Miss Drake-Brockman does not deny the sadnesses and tragedies of the past but helps place them in perspective.

wongi wongi is an account of life in a simpler time, at times sad, at times funny and always compassionate. The author hopes her book will contribute to bridging the divide between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. In this account of a white/aboriginal relationship the author responds to criticism levied at the Drake-Brockman family in their dealings with aborigines in the past.

THE AUTHOR

Judith Drake-Brockman spent her childhood on the family stations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and at the family home in Claremont in Perth. A child of both the city and the bush, her story crosses the cultures between black and white Australians.

A devoted swimmer, as a 17 year old Judith set new National records for both 50 and 100 yards freestyle; she successfully competed at international level in Master swimming championships at Tokyo, Sheffield and the 1999 Pan Pacific Masters Championship. She holds 3 world records, 4 national records and 5 state records in her age group. At the 2000 AUSSI Masters Swimming State Championship she was named female swimmer of the meet and in October 2000 she was named a Senior Australian Achiever of the Year. She has recently been awarded the 2000 Australian Sports Medal.

http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history-wars/2010/05/my-place-fabricating-family-history/