When David Marr set out to research the life of his great-grandmother the last thing he expected to find was a photograph of her father, dressed in the uniform of the Native Police.
“I was,’ he writes, ‘appalled and curious. I have been writing about the politics of race all my career. I know what side I’m on. Yet that afternoon I found, in the lower branches of my family tree, Sub-Inspector Reginald Uhr, a professional killer of Aborigines… and his brother D’arcy… also in the massacre business.”
That curiosity led David to study of early New South Wales politics and the way land was apportioned to the squatters, and from there to the activities of the Native Police. Out of this has come his extraordinary new book, Killing For Country.
David is the author of several previous books, which include his wonderful biography, Patrick White, a Life; Dark Victory (with Marian Wilkinson), and no less than six Quarterly Essays. He has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Saturday Paper and The Monthly, and was a reporter for Four Corners. He is the winner of three Walkley Awards and two honorary Doctorates. He is one of this country’s most esteemed journalists and authors.
Now, he’s coming to Maleny for a conversation about his new book.
The introducing author will be Mirandi Riwoe, speaking about her new book, Sunbirds. Set in Java during the Second World War – at the time of Japan’s inexorable move southwards – Sunbirds depicts the intricate web of identities and loyalties created by war and imperialism, and the heartbreaking compromises that so often ensue. Mirandi’s previous novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won the 2020 Queensland Fiction Book Award and the inaugural ARA History Novel Prize.
David and Mirandi will be in conversation with Steven Lang.
EVENT DETAILS:
Outspoken presents: David Marr in conversation
Maleny Community Centre
Tuesday October 24
6 for 6.30pm
Tickets: $25 and $18 for students
