Book Launch & In Conversation with Ann McGrath, Jackie Huggins & Pat Anderson AO

Launching their new book Ann McGrath, Jackie Huggins & Pat Anderson AO will be in conversation on Deep History Country and Sovereignty - What is deep history? How do histories make sovereignty on Country? What is history’s future?

About Deep History

For Aboriginal people, the past is the present. Competing histories form and transform the lands, peoples and nations of Oceania, from the Pacific Islands, New Guinea and Aotearoa/New Zealand to Australia. In nations impacted by colonialism, such questions are particularly pertinent. First Nations peoples have long made history, living on their Country far longer than the colonial invaders.

In Deep History: Country and Sovereignty, edited by Ann McGrath and Jackie Huggins, leading historians and thinkers explore Indigenous histories of caring for places and people over millennia. With contributions from Brenda L. Croft, Anna Clark, Lynette Russell and many more, Deep History considers how stories of the past and the future are inscribed on land, waterways and skies. Walking on Country, gardening and agriculture and rock art are historical practices that continue to play an important role in asserting sovereign rights.

While colonial powers crafted historical narratives of entitlement, First Nations people continue to perform deep histories of sovereignty. Deep History offers readers an invitation to walk the Country, to see how it reveals the most crucial of all histories for the planet.

‘Deep History is a rousing insurrection against the continuing colonial policing of history in Australasia and the Pacific. Indigenous Australian and Pasifika scholars lead in the reframing of our historical narratives, recognising, alongside white scholars, the urgency of truth telling for respectful acknowledgement of First Nations’ sovereignty. This postcolonial reframing of the space and tempo of past legacies and contemporary trajectories offers us new and deeper histories for better futures.’ – Warwick Anderson, author of The Cultivation of Whiteness: Science, Health, and Racial Destiny in Australia

‘Deep History attempts the timely, difficult, and often discomforting task of blasting open the allied academic disciplines of History and Archaeology to Indigenous ways of representing the past and their sovereign sense of Deep Time. Going beyond the peaceful co-existence models of what was once called “bi-cultural history” in Aotearoa New Zealand and drawing on experiences of settler-colonial rule in the wider world of Oceania, the essays here experiment with a variety of creative strategies to take this challenging conversation forward. The result is an exciting and courageous volume that will speak to all students of decolonisation of knowledge.’ – Dipesh Chakrabarty, author of Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference

‘This wonderful collection of essays displaying the challenges and achievements of Deep History, draws our attention to history’s power, for good and ill, and its importance to the sovereignty of a people. From a rich and thought-provoking introduction to the series of exciting, informative, and well-written essays that follow we learn much about the very different forms deep history can take – a long walk, rock art, stories and practices that nourish Country, scientific studies of changes in land and sea, works of historical fiction, and even the conventional historical archive. I came away with a heightened appreciation of the different ways that Indigenous and non-Indigenous histories can and sometimes do communicate with one another, and the vital importance of doing so.’ – Ann Curthoys, co-author of Taking Liberty: Indigenous Rights and Settler Self-Government in Colonial Australia, 1830–1890

‘A powerful collection of connections to history, Country and culture – offering new insights every Australian should read.’ – Terri Janke, author of True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture

‘If you have ever wondered what it actually means when we say “sovereignty was never ceded”, this expansive volume holds a wealth of answers. Sovereignties of time, place, law, language, knowledge, memory, history, identity, logic, governance and art are explored by some of contemporary scholarship’s most critical and creative thinkers. Challenging, compelling, provocative and practical, Deep History is a book for head and heart alike. Here is vital and vibrant reading for our truth-telling – and truth-listening – age.’ – Clare Wright, Professor of History, La Trobe University and author of Näku Dhäruk The Yirrkala Bark Petitions

About Ann McGrath

For the past seven years, Ann McGrath AM, who is the WK Hancock Chair at the Australian National University, has led a Laureate Program which, along with Indigenous knowledge holders, collaboratively explores the meanings of deep history. She has published various prize-winning books and held prestigious international fellowships, including at Princeton and the Rockefeller Centre, Bellagio.

About Jackie Huggins

Jackie Huggins is a Bidjara Elder of the Carnarvon Gorge area of Central Queensland, and the recipient of knowledge passed on by her last surviving cultural knowledge holder Uncle Frederick Conway from Rockhampton. She has worked in Aboriginal affairs for over four decades in community, government and non-government in areas of reconciliation, social justice and women's issues. An historian and author she is currently Professor, Director of Indigenous Research, School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Herston campus. She is author of Sister Girl: Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconciliation (2022).

About Pat Anderson AO

Pat Anderson AO is an Alyawarre woman known nationally and internationally as an advocate for the rights and health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Ms Anderson was the Chair of the Lowitja Institute for nearly 20 years and has extensive experience in Aboriginal health, including community development, policy formation and research ethics.

 She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2014 for distinguished service to the Indigenous community as a social justice advocate, particularly through promoting improved health, and educational and protection outcomes for children.

Along with Professor Megan Davis and Noel Pearson, Pat was awarded the internationally renowned Sydney Peace Prize for 2021-2022 for leadership in delivering the Uluru Statement From the Heart to the Australian People calling for Voice, Makarrata, Truth.

•  In 2024 she was awarded The National Peacewoman award by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom for her work for Human Rights and Indigenous Australians, and for her co-leadership of advocacy for The Voice to Parliament Campaign.

•  In 2016 awarded the Human Rights Medal, by the Australian Human Rights Commission – for her tireless work to advance the rights and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly in regards to education, health, early childhood development, and preventing violence against Aboriginal women and children.

Ms Anderson was Co-Chair of the Referendum Council that released its final report in 2017 and has since led the work of the Uluru Dialogue in partnership with the ILC UNSW. Put simply Aunty Pat Anderson AO is one of us who cares deeply for her people and wants peace in this country. 

About the Event
• Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
• Registration is required for this event.
• Accessible parking spaces directly below the Harry Hartog ANU Bookshop are available should you require them. Parking at ANU/Harry Hartog
• If you do not feel well, please refrain from attending this event.
• Disability Access available - please ask in-store.