Alcheringa

by Betty Villeminot
translated from the French by Andrew Riemer

ISBN 1 876631 94 5

$20.00

Publication date: June 2004

Alcheringa tells the story of Nari, an elderly Aborigine, gaoled for stealing a calf, who recalls the slow destruction of his people and of a way of life they believed to be eternal. From the first, ambiguous encounters with whites – a discarded bottle, a stray cow – to the disastrous confrontations between newcomers and the age-old custodians of the land, Betty Villeminot’s novel is both a lament and a celebration. At the end, as the Overland Telegraph is nearing completion, Nari is vouchsafed a vision of the fate of his people in future times and a confirmation of the eternal Dreamtime he is about to inherit.