1987 Indigenous Australian autobiography by Sally Morgan
My Place is an autobiography written by artist Sally Morgan in 1987. It is about Morgan's quest for knowledge of her family's past and the fact that she has grown up under false pretences. The book is a milestone in Aboriginal literature and is one of the earlier works in indigenous writing.
The book has been published in several parts 'for young readers' in the following parts:
The book is widely studied in Public Schools across New South Wales as part of an 'Aboriginal Studies' program compulsory for all students.
Synopsis
Sally Morgan's My Place is a story of a young Aboriginal girl growing up to false heritage and not knowing where she is from. Recounts of several of Morgan's family members are told. The story setting revolves around Morgan's own hometown, Perth, Western Australia, and also Corunna Downs Station, managed by Alfred Howden Drake-Brockman. Morgan has four siblings, two brothers and two sisters. She faces many challenges, such as fitting in at school, getting good marks for acceptance in University, and living life without her father.
My Place is the autobiographical account of Sally Morgan’s discovery of her family’s Indigenous roots. In 1982, Sally Morgan travelled back to her grandmother’s birthplace. What started as a tentative search for information about her family, turned into an overwhelming emotional and spiritual pilgrimage. My Place is an account of a search for truth into which a whole family is gradually drawn, finally freeing the tongues of the author’s mother and grandmother, allowing them to tell their own stories.
Critical opinions on Aboriginal representations in My Place
Bain Attwood, Jackie Huggins
In her essay "Always was always will be,"[1] Indigenous writer, activist and historian Jackie Huggins responds to Australian historian Bain Attwood's[2] "deconstruction of Aboriginality" in his analysis[3] of Sally Morgan's My Place, in addition to identifying problems that Huggins has with the book itself. Here is a brief excerpt from Huggins' essay:
"It cannot be denied that among those who have read My Place are (usually patronising) whites who believe that they are no longer racist because they have read it. It makes Aboriginality intelligible to non-Aboriginals, although there are different forms of Aboriginality which need to be considered also; otherwise these remain exclusionary and the danger is that only one ‘world view’ is espoused.
"Precisely what irks me about My Place is its proposition that Aboriginality can be understood by all non-Aboriginals. Aboriginality is not like that. [Bain] Attwood states ‘like most other Aboriginal life histories, it requires little if any translation’. To me that is My Place’s greatest weakness – requiring little translation (to a white audience), therefore it reeks of whitewashing in the ultimate sense."
(This quote of Bain's, in Huggins' essay, is in reference to the fact that My Place is written in English rather than an Aboriginal language, and Bain believes this illegitimizes its status as a reputable Aboriginal text.)
However, Huggins also rejects Attwood for defining the aboriginality of others:
Foremostly, I detest the imposition that anyone who is non-Aboriginal [such as Attwood] can define my aboriginality for me and my race. Neither do I accept any definition of aboriginality by non-Aboriginals as it insults my intelligence, spirit and soul, and negates my heritage.
Hirokazu Sonoda
In response to Attwood's opinions on My Place being written in English, Japanese lecturer Hirokazu Sonoda responded in his essay 'A Preliminary Study of Sally Morgan’s My Place':[4]
Both Attwood and Huggins display negative attitudes towards Sally's use of English to build her aboriginality. [...] Here, various questions arise. Why is English unsuitable to describe Aboriginality? To what extent does the language prevent the accurate description of Aboriginal ways, if any? How do white editors corrupt the authenticity of Aboriginal stories? Are there any examples which prove this? These questions still remain unanswered.
Marcia Langton
In her essay Aboriginal Art and Film: The Politics of Representation,[5] leading Aboriginal scholar Marcia Langton reflects on the (often complex) debates and controversies that surround Morgan's My Place – which have also plagued authors Mudrooroo and Archie Weller[6] – and Aboriginal identity generally.
"[T]he enormous response by white Australia to [My Place] lies somewhere in the attraction to something forbidden... and the apparent investigation and revelation of that forbidden thing through style and family history. It recasts Aboriginality, so long suppressed, as acceptable, bringing it out into the open. The book is a catharsis. It gives release and relief, not so much to Aboriginal people oppressed by psychotic racism, as to the whites who wittingly and unwittingly participated in it" (Langton)
Dispute about veracity
The claims made in this book are disputed by Judith Drake-Brockman, daughter of Alfred Howden Drake-Brockman. Judith's version of events is detailed in her book "Wongi Wongi." In 2004, she requested that Sally Jane Morgan undergo a DNA test to prove her claims that Howden fathered Morgan's Aboriginal grandmother Daisy, then committed incest with Daisy and fathered Gladys – Sally Morgan's mother.[7]
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