stolen lives

Carolyn Wadley Dowley: Through Silent Country. Revised Edition. 2023. Bronzewing Press.

There have been people, part of the nation, always, also now, who do not belong to the majority of the nation, belong to the people with power. People who are left out, even left without rights. These people may live in the shadows of the nations history books, real people but overseen, discarded, "forgotten", not recorded, recognised at all.

This book, 

this amazing book!, 

with such an extensive content is about those people, the Aboriginals and "half-castes" in Western Australia.

This book tells stories of those people outside rights, even outside human rights whose lives were stolen - and stolen legally under a law The Aborigines Act 1905 (combining the previous Acts).

This Act granted police officers and justices unprecedented powers over Aborigines and "half-" to (f.ex.) prohibit them entering or remaining in towns, to "protect " (???) and educate children under the age of 21 i.e. stole these people from their parents, homes and send them far away (- to better places??? -) even 1000km away in unhuman conditions - in train carts with no food,water,shelter…

This book tells stories, hidden and untold, of those horrible incidents happening to real people, to families. 

The book verifies with records stories being true, that it all happenend, that it all is part of history.


This book has its origins in the day when Carolyn Wadley Dowley came across a book telling of a happening of y 1921, a year when food and water was scarce in the and in the cities, when 15 aboriginals were stolen by brutal policeman from their homes, transported - against their will in a train cart "fifteen niggers to Mogumber" over to 1000 km away. 

This book verifies the Stole, and many many alike!, with babies, with kids, young women.

This book verifies that this all happened even though it was hard, almost impossible to Wadley Dowley to prove this all. But she did. 

It is all true.

This book tells the stories of stolen people(some escaping and making it back home, some not). It tells about this amazing escape journey at year 1921, the journey of these witty courageous people, who under the period of a fortnight, with only their knowledge and will to survive, with no shelter food or transportation, made it back home. This, the stole, the journey, the escape, the right to steal these people - it all started to intrigue Carolyn ´s mind. From that point she started this experience, her almost 30 year journey, to give a voice to those stolen people and people alike, experience their journey and most of all, listen and record their stories, dig out the records, document all accordingly and what an amazing work she has done.

Loved loved loved this book! 

Carolyn Wadley Dowley is a great academic writer but more over, she is an excellent writer, compelling one. This book is a study, documented within these 500 pages accordingly, but also it is a book, a book filled with stories, true stories dating hundred years back and with that, Carolyn Wadley Dowley has made history. She made these peoples journeys, their lives, their stories true and valid, and with such compassion and understanding that being far away from these incidents, it is very easy, for me, to feel these aboriginals, these "half-castes", these courageous resilient smart people's pain, feel honoured to be able to read all this, to maybe understand more of life, of humans, of people, of race, of injustice. Be smarter. 

This book has been written with a good and big heart, with understanding of the people who have had their lives stolen, with an understanding mind of the people who survived, understanding the pain in their lives, in lives they were placed against their will, hearing the stories of those who were left in their new life, the escape stories, feeling the pain of family members of those who did not make it. The pain of those who did not have the right to live the life of their own, with their own people, in their own land.

And about the structure of the book - it was easy to read and follow, it was smart: Introduction following with Speakings, Writings, Interpretings and a New Account (writers own conclusion of happening) and Post Script. After Epilogue there is an extensive amount of Appendices and Supplementary texts, Endnotes and s List of Figures and Illustrations, Maps and of course Acknowledgements, Biography and Index. A full study as you see.

But also a great book to read and experience.