NAIDOC Reading List

Updated June 29, 2026
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Moonee Valley City Council Libraries Moonee Valley City Council Libraries
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NAIDOC Reading List

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1

Compassion
Janson, Julie
Paper Book
'You can't enslave us all, Captain!' I yelled into his face. 'We will resist, and you will die a beaten man. Our Blackfellows will rise...' From the acclaimed author of the Miles Franklin longlisted Madukka: The River Serpent (UWA...

2

After story
Behrendt, Larissa
Paper Book
When a mother and daughter take the overseas trip of a lifetime, they discover that the past is never quite behind them. When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England's most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer...

3

Marramarra
Andrew, Brook Garru
Paper Book
marramarra (a Wiradjuri word meaning to create, make or do) explores how contemporary Indigenous artists and their communities are revealing hidden histories and finding pathways to healing. marramarra shares conversations with leading contemporary artists, including Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin...

4

Burn
Saward, Melanie
CD

5

The yield
Winch, Tara June
Paper Book
Winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin Award. Knowing that he will soon die, Albert 'Poppy' Gondiwindi takes pen to paper. His life has been spent on the banks of the Murrumby River at Prosperous House, on Massacre Plains. Albert is determined to pass on the language of his...

6

Always will be
Saunders, Mykaela
Paper Book
In this stunningly inventive and thought-provoking collection, Mykaela Saunders poses the question- what might country, community and culture look like in the Tweed if Gooris reasserted their sovereignty? Each of the stories in Always Will Be is set in its own future version of the...

7

Flock : First Nations stories then and now
Neerven, Ellen van
Paper Book
This wide-ranging and captivating anthology showcases both the power of First Nations writing and the satisfaction of a good short story. Curated by award-winning author Ellen van Neerven, Flock roams the landscape of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytelling, bringing together...

8

The belburd
Simpson, Nardi.
Paper Book
From the award-winning author of Song of the Crocodile comes a lyrical and masterfully woven novel about women, creation, belonging and the precious fragility of a life. 'Mothers are experts at overflow . . . You may forget the words or kisses or gifts they give but that doesn't...

9

That deadman dance : a novel
Scott, Kim
Paper Book
Set in Western Australia in the first decades of the nineteenth century, That Deadman Dance is a vast, gorgeous novel about the first contact between the Aboriginal Noongar people and the new European settlers. Bobby Wabalanginy is a young Noongar man, smart, resourceful, and eager...

10

Growing up Aboriginal in Australia
Heiss, Anita
Paper Book
What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside...

11

Black Duck : a year at Yumburra
Pascoe, Bruce
Paper Book
'Sometimes you need to repeat something a hundred times before a bell rings in the colony.' From the bestselling author Bruce Pascoe comes a deeply personal story about the consequences and responsibility of disrupting Australia's history. When Dark Emu was...

12

Edenglassie
Lucashenko, Melissa
Paper Book
When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Edenglassie, their saltwater people still outnumber the British. As colonial unrest peaks, Mulanyin dreams of taking his bride home to Yugambeh Country, but his plans for independence collide with white justice. Two centuries later, fiery...

13

Women & children
Birch, Tony
Paper Book
It's 1965 and Joe Cluny is living in a working-class suburb with his mum, Marion, and sister, Ruby, spending his days trying to avoid trouble with the nuns at the local Catholic primary school. One evening his Aunty Oona appears on the doorstep, distressed and needing somewhere to stay. As his mum...

14

Good Young Men
Lonesborough, Gary.
Paper Book
A brilliant contemporary YA coming-of-age novel about three small-town Aboriginal friends finding their way towards adulthood, from the multi-award-winning author of The Boy from the Mish, We Didn't Think It Through and I'm Not Really Here.

15

Because I Love Him
Donohue, Ashlee.
Paper Book
'In all of the madness stood two addicts: one severely addicted to alcohol and drugs, and the other just as addicted to the addict... In my sickness -- the sickness of this toxic love addiction -- his threats were the only words I...

16

Praiseworthy
Wright, Alexis
Paper Book
**Winner, Stella Prize 2024** **Winner, Queensland Literary Awards, Fiction Book Award** **Winner, The James Tait Black Prize, Fiction 2024** **Shortlisted, The...

17

Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray
Heiss, Anita
Paper Book
'There are books you encounter as an adult that you wish you could press into the hands of your younger self. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray is one of those books - a novel that turns Australia's long-mythologised settler history into a raw and resilient heartsong.' - Guardian...

18

Black witness : the power of Indigenous media
McQuire, Amy
Paper Book
Amy McQuire has been writing on Indigenous affairs since she was 17 years old. Over the past two decades, she has reported on most of the key events involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including numerous deaths in custody, the Palm Island uprising, the Bowraville murders and the...

19

Fire country : how indigenous fire management could help save Australia
Steffensen, Victor
Ebook

20

Apron-SorrowSovereign-Tea
Harkin, Natalie.
Paper Book
she lingers in archives / her trace is my memory / we labour dig sweat / blister imagine / know them more intimately / so much work to be done / so much work / to clean up this colonial mess. Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea evokes an embodied reckoning with Aboriginal women's domestic...

21

The Rot
Araluen, Evelyn.
Paper Book
The Rot is a recalcitrant study of the decaying romances, expired hopes and abject injustices of the world. A liturgy for girlhood in the dying days of late-stage capitalism, these poems expose fraying nerves and tendons of a speaker refusing to avert their gaze from the death of Country,...

22

True tracks respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture
Janke, Terri
Paper Book
Indigenous cultures are not terra nullius--nobody's land, free to be taken. True Tracks is a groundbreaking work that paves the way for respectful and ethical engagement with Indigenous cultures. Using real-world cases and personal stories, award-winning Meriam/Wuthathi lawyer Dr. Terri Janke...

23

Always was, always will be
Mayo, Thomas
Paper Book
In Always Was, Always Will Be, bestselling author Thomas Mayo investigates 'what's next?' for reconciliation and justice in Australia after the failed October 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum. Since the referendum, supporters and volunteers have been asking for guidance as...

24

Voice to parliament handbook, the
Mayo, Thomas
Paper Book
The Voice to Parliament Handbook is an easy-to-follow guide for the millions of Australians who have expressed support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, but want to better understand what a Voice to Parliament actually means. 'We...

25

My spare heart
Thomas, Jared
Paper Book
Seventeen-year-old Phoebe's life is turned upside down when she moves from the city to the country to live with her dad in this powerful and uplifting story about family breakdowns, facing truths and finding balance.
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