"the match is in the spinifex": the Gurindji walk off and frank hardy's the unlucky Australians

Book chapter

Mountford, Benjamin. (2017). "the match is in the spinifex": the Gurindji walk off and frank hardy's the unlucky Australians. In In D. Davies, E. Lombard and B. Mountford (Ed.). Fighting Words: Fifteen Books That Shaped the Postcolonial World pp. 215 - 230 Peter Lang Publishing. https://doi.org/10.3726/b13185
AuthorsMountford, Benjamin
EditorsD. Davies, E. Lombard and B. Mountford
Abstract

During the 1960s author Frank Hardy played an important role in the Wave Hill Walk Off – when a group of Aboriginal stockmen and their families embarked on one of the longest strikes in Australian history. Hardy’s account of the Walk Off, The Unlucky Australians (1968), carried the story of the Gurindji people and their demand for improved pay and conditions – and ultimately the return of their traditional lands – to readers across Australia. While scholars have devoted considerable attention to the domestic impact, literary merits and historical accuracy of Hardy’s book, however, we know relatively little about its international resonance. This chapter sets out to revisit The Unlucky Australians and to locate Hardy’s work in relation to a broader transnational discourse on race and resistance during the 1960s and 1970s

KeywordsAboriginal Australians
Page range215 - 230
Year2017
Book titleFighting Words: Fifteen Books That Shaped the Postcolonial World
PublisherPeter Lang Publishing
Place of publicationUnited Kingdom
ISBN9781787070752
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3726/b13185
Research GroupSchool of Arts
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