Chris Owen

"It's Still in My Heart, This is My Country": the Single Noongar Claim History Chris Owen

This is a history commissioned by Australia's South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) that presents as evidence the Single Noongar Native Title Claim over metropolitan Perth and South-West Western Australia. The Claim hinges on the proof that the indigenous Noongar were a single unified people and not a number of unrelated Aboriginal groups as claimed by the state of Western Australia. The book shatters the myths that have influenced public perceptions of the Noongar. With its in-depth analysis, drawing on a vast array of writing on the subject, it is an outspoken history that tackles the controversial aspects of Native Title in Western Australia. Topics discussed range from journals of early figures such as Phillip Parker King, Alexander Collie, and Daisy Bates, through to more recent assessments by Green and Haebich. "It's Still in My Heart, This Is My Country" is an invaluable historical resource that offers an assessment of how histories and narratives written about the Noongar people in the past have affected current public perceptions. This book has won two prestigious awards: the Human Rights Award for Literature (non-fiction) in Dec. 2010 and the 2010 Margaret Medcalf Award.