My Place (An Australian Classic)

I enjoyed "My Place." As an American from the Midwest, the only things I knew about Australia were what I learned in a college foreign politics class centered on Australia and New Zealand. I never sought out more information until I met an Australian friend who inspired me to learn more about his country. And he suggested this book.I've started reading but just can't seem to finish "The Fatal Shore." But Sally Morgan's book gave me a feeling of reading fiction with some history behind it. I know that all her "facts" aren't to the tee. While I am not Native American, I live in South Dakota, where the Native Americans have been subject to much of the same treatment. This really opened up my eyes of what it must be like to live as Aboriginal, or part Aboriginal, Native American or part Native American in the modern day world. And how we've progressed to get where we are...if you can call it progression. I think Sally Morgan does a great job of getting you in the story of her growing up, and then tying it all together with the dictated stories from her great uncle, mother and grandmother. Reading "My Place" has made me eager to learn more about the Aboriginal culture, maybe a deeper knowledge. I believe I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't a straight history book. While it isn't as thick, it reminds me of another text that tells the history of London through a handful of families. I recommend "My Place." From someone who doesn't have time to read 400+ page books, this one kept me turning the page. It was enlightening

Sally Morgan writes from the heart as she explores her family's hidden Aboriginal history in a book that spares no punches. My Place is all about identity and what racism and prejudice can do to a people. The white settlers who colonized Australia have systematically tried to bury the Aboriginal people and their way of life but somehow against all odds they have survived, and people like Sally Morgan are standing up to be counted as the descendants lost tribes of mixed race people who were never given a chance to choose who they wanted to live with. Sally Morgan writes with startling clarity as she describes her childhood with her half Aboriginal Grandmother who would never admit to being native, and often told her Grandchildren to lay claim to an Indian heritage rather than admit the truth. Sally's Grandmother's fears lay deep within her own childhood when she was taken away from her mother, and it was this fear she passed onto Sally's mother who was three quarter's white. Both women were terrified of white authority and the power it had to tear families apart. My Place is a haunting, true story of one woman's search for her roots in a country that saw Aboriginal blood as a taint rather than a celebration. We need more books like this on our bookshelves, and even more people to read them...

This book is so powerful that I nearly came to tears at the final chapter. I withheld them saying to myself, "she's going to a better place, her place". Being part-caucasian, asian and black, I can very deeply relate to this novel. Black people around the world (particularly Africans) can relate to this because it deals with the discrimination blacks have had to suffer over the past two centuries! It's something that unfortunately due to institutionalized racism will not be taught in schools but through Sally's novel everyone can learn more about the Australian Kooris(Aboriginals). Not only does she uncover the truth ever so gradually but one gets a sense of loss and pride for every moment of recovery and discovery of Sally's life. I hope Sally goes on-line often and reads this because I'd like to say that I too have had a hard time coping with my "black side" and she has given me the courage and strength to love myself and search for the truth. That's how powerful her novel is! It changed my life and it certainly will change yours! Please don't take for granted who I find is the world's greatest writer, Sally Morgan. We can all learn from each other!

Imagine growing up and not being aware that you were part aboriginal until the age of fifteen, having been told by your mother that the reason your grandmother was black was because she was Indian. Sally Morgan grew up in Perth, Western Australia in the 50s and 60s, and this is the story of how she eventually went back to discover her grandmother's origins in 1982, and thereby found her "Place". A moving and enriching book, which will have you in tears one minute and laughing the next