Don Watson's bestselling titles include
Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM,
Death Sentence and
The Bush. An accomplished author, speechwriter and screenwriter, he is one of Australia’s most beloved intellectual giants.
Now Watson returns with
The Passion of Private White, a book fifty years in the making, offering a complex portrait of anthropologist Neville White and his relationship with the Yolngu clans at Donydji in north-east Arnhem Land.
Over five decades, White mapped the culture and history of the Yolngu people. But eventually, presence meant involvement. As White became an advocate against the outside forces that threatened the clan, the community at Donydji began to interact with White’s old platoon of soldiers suffering psychic wounds from the Vietnam War.
For this Melbourne City Reads event, Watson joins host Sally Warhaft to discuss his own fifty-year relationship with Neville White and the process of crafting
The Passion of Private White, an intricate study of colonisation, suffering, resilience and humanity.
The Melbourne City Reads series is generously supported by George and Rosa Morstyn.