Two esteemed QUT Indigenous academics, Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr Amy McQuire, have been featured in a powerful compilation of essays published in a new book.
Essays that Changed Australia: Meanjin 1940 to today (Melbourne University Publishing) is billed as a curated collection of essays that have shaped Australia’s culture and society.
In a celebration of the book’s release at Old Government House on the QUT Garden’s Point campus on Wednesday December 4, Professor Watego and Dr McQuire were joined in a panel discussion by Yagarabul Elder and Language Fellow in School of Languages and Culture from UQ Gaja Kerry Charlton, who is also featured in the book.
The 20 selected works have been published by Meanjin across its quarterly print editions since 1940. An introduction by editor Esther Anatolitis, who also attended the QUT event, offers critical context and scrutiny, illustrating how profoundly Meanjin essays have changed Australia.
The essay Always Bet on Black (Power) by Professor Watego appears from Meanjin 80.3 Spring 2021, while The Act of Disappearing by Dr McQuire appears from Meanjin 81.4 Summer 2022.
Led by moderator Angela Barney-Leitch QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Australians), the panel discussion was open to the public and highlighted the importance of the voices expressed within the essays, some of which have helped inspire royal commissions and global movements.
The collection includes pieces by Marcia Langton, Manning Clark, Gerald Murnane, Thea Astley, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Jane Howard, Nahed Elrayes and Tony Birch. Its themes touch on issues such as sovereignty and place; cities, towns, streets and homes; and power, class and culture.
In her introduction to the book, Esther Anatolitis describes the essay by Dr McQuire as “sensitive and forceful” and “instrumental in changing the narrative from ‘unreliable’ accounts of ‘missing persons’ who might have ‘gone walkabout’ to the disappearing of Aboriginal women”.
In relation to the essay from Professor Watego, she calls it one of the mightiest pieces Meanjin has ever published, stating “…writing in both the first person and the universal voice, Watego makes it clear that her lived experience and scholarship and action are equivalent tools in her ‘radicalism of Black power’ – alongside both rage and love”.
Professor Watego said the publication of her essay changed her life and the course of her career, while also reinforcing to her the power of the written word.
“Meanjin Quarterly gave me an opportunity to break the silence that surrounds racial complaint in the workplace and to tell the often-forgotten story of our power as a people amidst it all,” Professor Watego said.
“I hadn’t realised when I wrote it the impact it would have, and it proved a pivotal turning point for me as a writer. The publication should’ve ended my career in the academy, but instead it would lead me to take up the role as Executive Director of QUT’s Carumba Institute, an Indigenous justice-oriented research centre which explicitly prides itself on the ‘power of Black knowing’.”
Dr McQuire, who won the 2022 Hilary McPhee Award for essay writing that makes a fearless contribution to the national debate and early this year published Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media (UQP), praised Meanjin for the platform it provides and diversity of voices it represents.
“Meanjin provides a space for fearless writing that exposes important truths – in the current imperial media landscape, this can’t be underestimated,” Dr McQuire said.
“I’m proud to have this essay included in an anthology like this, especially alongside writers I respect enormously.”
Copies of Essays that Changed Australia: Meanjin 1940 to today are available online from Melbourne University Publishing.
Main image: Professor Chelsea Watego, left, and Dr Amy McQuire, right, at the 'Essays that Changed Australia: Meanjin 1940 to today' book celebration.
Media contact:
Amanda Weaver
QUT Media
07 3138 2361 / 0407 585 901 (After Hours)
