The Australian Bite

Life on the mission & reclaiming multiculturalism

21 January 2011

Listen and download: MP3

This week on the Australian Bite summer series, we’ll meet indigenous author Marie Munkara – whose award-winning debut novel Every Secret Thing chronicles life on a remote Catholic Mission.  And we’ll hear why Australians are being urged to “reclaim multiculturalism.”

Reclaiming multiculturalism

Australia is a multicultural society. Almost one in four Australians was born overseas, and people of more than 200 different nationalities make up our population of around 22 million. But despite that, it’s been a while since we as a nation, have talked about multiculturalism. As public policy, it’s been downplayed in the last decade, with critics complaining that it divides rather than unites Australians. However late last year the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils launched a new campaign to Reclaim Multiculturalism.  The campaign was supported by over 100 community groups and individuals. and the chair of the Federation, Pino Migliorino, joined Richard Aedy to explain his desire to rekindle a national conversation about multiculturalism.

A tale of life on the mission

The novel Every Secret Thing, written by indigenous author Marie Munkara, chronicles life on a remote Catholic Mission in the Northern Territory. Every Secret Thing won the 2008 David Unaipon award for an unpublished manuscript by an Indigenous writer, an award that brings with it a book contract with the University of Queensland Press. The novel appeared in 2009, and was named the Northern Territory Book of the Year for 2010. Peter Mares asked Marie Munkara about the book and the personal experiences that informed its writing.

This interview was originally broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Book Show

Music:  (not in podcast)

The Warumpi Band have a special place in Australian music history. They had their beginnings in the early nineteen eighties, and originated in the Aboriginal settlement of Papunya in the central desert region of the Northern Territory.  This song Jailanguru Pakarnu was their first single, released in 1983. It translates as Out from Jail and it was the first rock song to be recorded and released in an Aboriginal language.

Artist: The Warumpi Band

Track: Jailanguru Pakarnu

Album: Go Bush (1988)

Radio Australia often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.