stanro 's review for:

Dirrayawadha: Rise Up by Anita Heiss

4.5

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Anita Heiss is on a mission, a mission to bring to us a history of Australia, a history that has been kept from the mainstream. A history that is caused by colonisation, a history whose telling is a victim of colonisation, and a history that has been silenced by colonisation. Her latest (2024) book tells a fictionalised story of the real Wiradyuri resistance leader Windradyne and the people around him, in the Bathurst region of the NSW Colony in the 1820s. The book commences with a glossary of Wiradyuri words that are used frequently in the book, and I obtain the Wiradyuri language app. 

Having read the story of another great resistance leader, Pemulwuy, earlier this year, I’m happy to get into it. And early in this book, a brief summary is given of Pemulwuy’s resistance and defeat some 25 years earlier. 

I find that despite many commendable aspects of the book, at first I am somewhat bored. Romantic historical fiction is not a genre that I am fond of, and using it as a vehicle to also educate the reader on the Wiradyuri way of life does not work for me, though I know that great problems lie ahead. I’m waiting for this aspect, heavily flagged in the material preceding the story, to become central. 

I do appreciate the way that the colonised Irish life is compared and contrasted with that of the colonised Wiradyuri, playing out largely in conversations between erstwhile lovers Miinaa and Dan across the cultural and racial barriers of 19th century Australia, as they discover their similarities in this regard. 

As the book develops, these discussions take various turns as Windradyne’s resistance grows and becomes a war with the British - a guerilla war. And as the politics became more central, I became more interested. 

A powerful epilogue follows the conclusion of the story itself, as Heiss speaks directly to the reader. In the audiobook, that speaking is all by the excellent narration of Tamala Shelton. #areadersjourney