Bruce Pascoe was guest of honour at the Australian Catholic University’s Art Gallery on 5 December 2015 during the West Papuan Women’s Office Sampari Art Exhibition. Bruce is an indigenous Australian, and a member of the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative. He is a prolific researcher and award-winning writer, with works published in six languages and nine countries. He gave voice to the West Papuan struggle for independence in 1996 with Ruby-eyed Coucal and the companion novel Shark that won the 1999 Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Literature Award. His concern for West Papuans and their land arcs back to his Master of Arts research at Griffith University in 1994 (‘Liberal and interventionist Economic Policies: the case of Indonesia’).
Bruce Pascoe, interviewed by Charley Woolmore from the Wurrundjeri Tribe Land Cultural Heritage Council, Australian Catholic University Art Gallery, 5 December 2015 (Photo: Tommy Latupeirissa).
RUBY-EYED COUCAL is a gripping novel and political thriller set in West Papua that examines historic and contemporary relations between Indigenous Australians and West Papuans. Central to the story is Baroong Baroong, a ruby-eyed coucal (bird), sacred to its Papuan kin for the precious stones in its gullet (gold, garnet, sapphire), and long-recognized by Aboriginal traders in northern Australia by its feathers. There’s also Jim Fox, an Aboriginal fighting alongside West Papuan freedom fighters, and his daughter Maree, who discovers her indigenous identity while journeying across Torres Strait to find him. And then there’s Doris Arinyeri, a determined Papuan woman; Kurul, tribal leader of the highland Mek; and Armos Tutilani the OPM leader who says “I will never think like a white or an Asian; I am Papuan, I can talk of a thousand grandfathers”.
Bruce Pascoe signing copies of his novel ‘Ruby-Eyed Coucal’ for Anna Lennon and her children at the Australian Catholic University Art Gallery on 5 December 2015 (Photo: Tommy Latupeirissa).
Bruce’s numerous publications include Lament for Three Hands about the (formerly) unspoken tragedy at the Big Yango cave in NSW, which won the 2010 FAW Short Story Award; Fog, a Dox which won the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction; and Dark Emu (2014), another celebrated rebuttal of colonial myths that was published, like many of his books, by Magabala Press in Broome. Bruce was also an important voice in the SBS landmark 7-hour documentary ‘First Australians’ ( https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/first-australians ). His concern for West Papuans and their land arcs back to his Master of Arts research at Griffith University in 1994 (Liberal and interventionist Economic Policies: the case of Indonesia).
Video-recording (60min): Bruce Pascoe on Ruby-eyed Coucal with Charley Woolmore from Wurrundjeri Land Cultural Heritage Council. Welcome to Country: Colin Hunter (00:36-02:29). https://youtu.be/p9BL1WhX9kk
