Now included in UQP's First Nations Classics series with an introduction by Fiona Foley, Finding Eliza is a vital Indigenous perspective on colonial storytelling.
Aboriginal lawyer, writer and filmmaker Larissa Behrendt has long been fascinated by the story of Eliza Fraser, who was purportedly captured by the Butchulla people after she was shipwrecked on their island off the Queensland coast in 1836. In this deeply personal book, Behrendt uses Eliza’s tale as a starting point to interrogate how Aboriginal people – and indigenous people of other countries – have been portrayed in their colonisers’ stories.
Exploring works as diverse as Robinson Crusoe and Coonardoo, Behrendt looks at the stereotypes embedded in these accounts, including the assumption of cannibalism and the myth of the noble savage. Ultimately, Finding Eliza shows how these stories not only reflect the values of their storytellers but also reinforce those values – and how, in Australia, this has contributed to a complex racial divide.
Author: Larissa Behrendt
Paperback Published 4 June 2024 240 pages
‘A free-flowing essay in historical, legal and cultural criticism.’ -Sydney Morning Herald
‘Behrendt’s analytical legal skills, her experience and talent as a writer and the visual imagination developed by filmmaking are all deployed to enhance a powerful and learned argument. Her vivid, fluid prose will make the book readily accessible to readers, including those at high school.’ - The Weekend Australian
