Historian Clare Wright has won the book of the year at the NSW Literary Awards for her nonfiction work Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions, taking home a total of $50,000. The book explores the creation of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions, a pivotal moment in Australia's land rights history.
The petitions were presented to the Australian parliament in 1963 by Yolŋu elders on painted bark frames, after part of the Arnhem Land Reserve was licensed to a French mining company. Although the petitions did not halt mining, they led to the first land rights legislation in Australia, the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.
Judges praised the book as 'deeply researched', 'highly original' and 'vividly alive', calling it 'a work of national significance' that 'should be read by all Australians'. Wright's narrative treats historical figures as characters, bringing their political aspirations and resilience to life.
Näku Dhäruk is the third in Wright's 'democracy trilogy', following her Stella Prize-winning Forgotten Rebels of Eureka and You Daughters of Freedom. Wright spent a decade writing the 640-page book, which she describes as collaborative, having lived and worked with the Yirrkala community.
Other winners included Moreno Giovannoni for fiction with The Immigrants, and S Shakthidharan for the Multicultural NSW award. The awards ceremony took place at the NSW State Library on Monday night.
