The Track to Bralgu [first edition]

B. Wongar (a pseudonym necessary for political reasons) is an Australian aborigine whose stories comprise a haunting lament for his people's vanishing life and land in the outback. With an eloquence and artistry reminiscent of Alan Paton's celebrated novels about South Africa, "The Track to Bralgu" portrays the aborigine struggle, not only to survive, but also to endure the passing of a centuries-old way of life. These bitter stories - how could they be anything else? - tell of the spoilation of the land and the aborigines. They are the stories of the destruction of one world by another. And the conquering world understood virtually nothing of the beauty of what it was destroying. It was regarded as an alien world, primitive, savage, barbarous, lacking all the genius of the West. So it was pitilessly destroyed. The cherished customs, the tribal meanings, the sacred places, all were broken to pieces by the guns and the laws and the bulldozers of the new gods. In "The Track to Bralgu," B. Wongar gives eloquent voice to his people's plight - a voice infused with a compassion and empathy he is uniquely suited to impart.