Allen & Unwin acquires Duncan’s “Musquito”

Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Musquito: The real story of a legendary colonial warrior, a biography of the First Nations resistance warrior known as Musquito, written by Naomi Parry Duncan.

In the biography, Duncan writes about the story of Musquito, who was captured by settlers while fighting for Country west of Sydney. Exiled to Van Diemen’s Land, Musquito joined with local Aboriginal people as they began the resistance that ignited the colonists’ Black War. Wrongly accused of being the ringleader, he was executed in 1825.

Duncan is a historian specialising in First Nations history and family history. She is president of the Professional Historians’ Association NSW and ACT, and an adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania.

Duncan said, “Musquito’s remarkable life offers new insights into how Aboriginal people navigated ways of living alongside the new arrivals.”

Publisher Elizabeth Weiss said, “This is a groundbreaking biography of the calibre of Cassandra Pybus’s bestselling Truganini [A&U].”

A&U plans to publish Musquito in July 2026.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions