Melancholy Sentinel. "Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession" by Barry Hill. [review]

Abstract

It seems to be only a couple of years ago that Devlin-Glass' students declared gender and race to be the 'hot' topics in culture. Now, she confidently predicts, they will relegate gender (still acknowledging its importance) and reformulate the second term by adding a third: race and its intersection with religion, in its broadest definition. "Broken Song" analyses the fraught relationships that exist and have existed between indigenous Australians and those 'ministering' to them, whether via missionary, welfare, legal or academic agencies. T.G.H. Strehlow (1908–78), who turbulently enacted all those roles, demonstrates how even the best intentions are inadequate compensation for colonial inequities.