Alice’s Dreaming (Tom Griffiths, Black Inc.)

Historian and author Tom Griffiths was 14 when he discovered Alice Duncan-Kemp’s Where Strange Paths Go Down at his school library. Detailing life in rural south-west Queensland at the turn of the 20th century, it presented him with a very different Australia from the suburban Melbourne he knew. With Alice’s Dreaming, Griffiths recounts Duncan-Kemp’s experiences growing up on Mooraberrie Station. There she spent her days walking secret bush pathways with her nanny, Mary Ann, in a world where the pastoralists and the local Mithaka people lived in relative harmony under a treaty known as the Debney Peace.

Griffiths builds on Duncan-Kemp’s story to present a broader examination of her corner of Australia, exploring how two worlds existed side by side – if only briefly and often tumultuously. The result is a mix of history and biography, as Duncan-Kemp’s life and literary career intertwine with the Frontier Wars and increasing government repression, culminating in a lengthy legal battle during World War I that stretched halfway around the world.

Alice’s Dreaming is an engaging read right from the start, with numerous surprises scattered throughout, even before Griffiths dives into a half-century-old plagiarism scandal. A must for readers interested in history told by voices often excluded in the past, the book is a celebration of a connection that remains relevant today, as the Mithaka people used Duncan-Kemp’s texts in their successful attempt to reclaim their Country.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anthony Morris is a freelance reviewer, novelist and podcaster. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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