Books by Jane Harrison

“The book focuses on seven Elders of the Eora nation who gather on Gadigal country. They’re standing on the shore and they see the ships of the First Fleet come in. They’ve had visits in the past, but the Europeans have always left. So they take a vote: what are they going to do? Welcome them or drive them off? One votes welcome, six vote to drive off. And so the discussion begins. What Jane Harrison, the author, was saying was that this was her thought experiment, in giving these Elders agency. Her idea, as I understand it, is to ask what the Aboriginal people would have done if they had had a choice. So she portrays that, the process of them coming to a collective decision.” Read more...

The Best Australian Historical Fiction

Kate Kruimink, Novelist