Kayang and Me

By Kim Scott And Hazel Brown, Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2005, 270 pages, paperback, $29.95. Reviewed by Christine Choo in the July 2006 issue.

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Set in the Southwest of Western Australia, in country claimed by both authors to be the place that owns them, Kayang and Me is the fruit of collaboration between senior Aboriginal woman, Kayang Hazel Brown, and the younger Kim Scott. Brown, matriarch of a large extended family, has a vast store of memories and stories of times past, family and kin relationships which provide context and depth of knowledge to Scott's explorations of his identity and connections to Brown's family and the wider Noongar community.

For Scott, now an accomplished author, this is the third book in which he explores his own Aboriginality. His first novel, True Country, a semi-autobiographical work of fiction, was based on his experiences as a newly trained teacher in the Aboriginal community at Kalumburu in the far north of Western Australia. In it he portrayed the dilemmas he faced when confronted by the traditional ways and values of the isolated community, and begins to face his own Aboriginal identity which until then had remained hidden or dormant. The multi-award-winning novel Benang took this exploration a step further, drawing the reader into the Noongar world and its destruction through colonisation. Here, Scott used extensive archival research as the basis of his skilful storytelling through the narrator, 'the first white man born'.

Kayang & Me, written in a conversational style, is based on the relationship between the two authors, the recorded oral accounts told by Brown and Scott's reactions to her words, yet it is far more than the sum of these parts. It portrays a sense of connectedness to community and extended family and contains fine sketches of individuals who emerge from these memories and conversations. It draws the reader into a Noongar world where nothing is starkly black or white. The voices of both Brown and Scott are cleverly interwoven and clearly indicated in the text. The reader begins to catch glimpses of Noongar relationships within their community and families, as well as their connections to white families.

The chapter 'Insecurity, uncertainty and doubt', an essay on the perils and uncertainties in the process of claiming Aboriginal identity, comes close to the heart of Kim Scott's writing -- his need to declare himself Aboriginal, and to share his explorations, warts and all. The apparently white boy who was once taught by his father to fight, here, with the legitimating support of Kayang Hazel, is a skillful interpreter of experience as he attempts to understand his world and his Aboriginality.

Kayang & Me touches the contemporary lives of Aboriginal people. It deals with the nuances of racism faced by Aboriginal people from within their own communities and outside them. It explores some of the impacts of the alienation thrust on them through the imposition of legislation, policies and practices of 'the Welfare' and the racism they experience in just living each day. There is also the kindness of ordinary folk and those who lived close to the Noongars and the struggles of individuals and families in spite of the oppressive environment. It is a story of survival. For this reason Kayang & Me is a significant book. It is important for readers to remember however that a book of such candour about the politics of identity and race could be written today only because fine Aboriginal leaders, including the late Rob Riley, have struggled tirelessly to bring about change for their people. The new generation of Aborigines are indebted to their elders for their hard work and dedication.

Citation

• Christine Choo. 'Review: Kayang and Me by Kim Scott and Hazel Brown' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), July 2006. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 21 May 2013].

Back Cover Blurb

• Wilomin Noongar. What does that mean?
  
  Aunty Hazel reckons the wilo (curlew) can completely camouflage itself. It closes its eyes and just lies there, motionless. You only see it when its eyes open.
  
  So sometimes those of us who are disconnected and dispossessed only become visible when our eyes are opened to history. Acknowledging our people - wanting recognition and welcome - we call out.
  
  Aware-winning novelist Kim Scott and his elder, Hazel Brown, have created a monumental family history of the Wilomin people. Kayang and Me is a powerful story of community and belonging, revealing the deep and enduring connections between family, country, culture and history that lie at the heart of Indigenous identity.
  
  Kayang and Me was shortlisted in the history section of the 2005 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards.

Have You Also Read?

• Bush Heroes: a people, a place, a legend
  
  Suzanne Welborn, Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2002, 240 Pages, Paperback, $29.95
  Reviewed by David Crawford in the October 2002 issue.
  
  Bush Heroes, a regional history of Western Australians in the First World War, was released in May 2002, the same month that the last Anzac veteran, Alec Campbell, passed away aged 103. He arrived at Gallipoli at the age of 16. The veteran was sceptical of his growing fame of recent years, as newspapers reported the deaths of the remaining Gallipoli survivors. He insisted he was just an ordinary chap. Welborn's well-researched history similarly is about the character and experiences of ordinary rank and file West Australian members of the First AIF, drawn from their enlistment attestation papers, letters and personal diaries held at the Australian War Memorial. Welborn asserts that the ... read more.