A small Indigenous publisher run entirely by volunteers has a runaway hit on its hands.
Head of Dharawal Publishing, John Bursill, is carrying on the legacy of his late father, Uncle Les Bursill OAM, renowned for tracing the history of Aboriginal people of the Sutherland Shire and Illawarra via archaeology, anthropology and rock art. Today Dharawal Publishing’s star author is Dr Jodi Edwards, a Yuin cultural custodian with Dharawal kinship connections.
Jodi is leading the revival of the Dharawal language with a series of children’s books. Her first book, Dharawal Words, Phrases and Activities, was launched at the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) by Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney in late 2022 and is already a bestseller.
“It’s sold 5000 copies,” John says.
For all Australians, there’s a spiritual perspective to learning a language spoken for thousands of years, John says. “In Aboriginal culture, language connects you to Country. Jodi’s aim is to get children speaking Dharawal. At least in simple sentences. Say hello; say goodbye – all the basic sort of things so that they can feel that connection.
“Because there’s a belief that by speaking the words, it keeps the spirits alive, of the old people in a way too.”
It’s been a huge challenge, publishing books in a language lost, mixed and suppressed.
“Jodi did a lot of work, and a lot of work with the Elders and also with scholarly research into the actual archives, listening to the tracks of people speaking,” John says.
Earlier this year Jodi, a doctor of philosophy, was nominated for NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year. She believes in Reconciliation through learning, helped set up Gumaraa tour and education company and leads Indigenous tours with Stand Up Paddle Boarding Shellharbour. She was also, John says, once a champion powerlifter.
“She was in the Olympic team.
“She’s without ego. She’s very open, but she’s also strong. Strong-willed, strong-minded, speaks her truth. But she’s open to everyone else … You can’t just be an author in the Aboriginal space, you’ve got to be a community person, or you just won’t get the support you need.”
The former president of Sutherland Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, John describes himself as the glue bringing people together. “My father left me this legacy. I had to embrace it.
“And I can make a pretty good speech too if I have to,” he adds, with a laugh. “I’ll put on a performance, because I was in a band for many years.”
2508 locals may remember John as the lead singer in popular Helensburgh party band Spindrift, which also starred Joe McNaughton of the Helensburgh Off Road Cycle Club (HORCC).
John no longer lives in Helensburgh, after a second near-death experience with a deer while riding his motorbike home late at night. Today, he juggles Dharawal Publishing commitments, including book launches and speeches, in between engineering work at Rex Airlines and running his own training business in Bangor. There are no grand offices; books are simply stored at the home of Mary Jacobs, an old friend of Les who volunteers her time to produce the books.
“Dharawal Publishing is quite fledgling,” John says. “All the money we make, we push back in. It’s a perpetual fund to support Indigenous authors.”
A Dharawal man, John is immensely proud of his connections to the people who lived in this area for millennia. He connected with culture in many ways, growing up as an avid bushwalker and Scout, spending time with his dad in boats on Port Hacking, learning the skills of a saltwater man. In his youth, John served in the army. “I was a long-distance canoeist and a champion shot, I was an outrigger canoe paddler for many years. I won the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 111-kilometre race.
“My father encouraged people to embrace their Aboriginality … people of mixed race, like myself, that have Aboriginal history.”
John was raised to advocate for Indigenous people and bridge the gap between cultures, with both his parents pioneers in their own way. Les was a printer – he started in newspapers at the Sydney Morning Herald – then later an educator, who pursued a lifelong interest in archaeology and anthropology, earning the respect of the La Perouse Aboriginal community. His mother, who died tragically young of ovarian cancer, had a degree in English literature and did a doctoral thesis on Australian feminist poets.
John’s dad – whose autobiography was titled The Past is in us, not Behind us – inspired many people to change their thinking. “They were all stimulated by my father embracing his Aboriginality as, predominantly, a white man but that knew he’d had a history – went to university, did anthropology and archaeology and went out into the country and found the sites, and found himself, in the Royal and Heathcote National Parks. And then went to the people of La Perouse and managed to get them to accept him after 20, 30 years of work. And then he took them into the Royal National Park and taught them about lost aspects of their history.”
The seeds for Dharawal Publishing were sown when Les Bursill became an Aboriginal liaison officer for Correctional Services. In 2007, he started producing gazettes to try to connect Indigenous people with their culture. In 2008, Les published a pioneering book, Dharawal: The story of the Dharawal speaking people of Southern Sydney.
Piecing together the past is a work in progress, John says, and the team are looking at revising this book. “Dad was always very open to having that discussion as things change. Because the problem for people who are trying to present the true history is that because of colonisation effects, especially around disease and smallpox, the history was lost. It was decimated.”
This is why spelling has changed, even of the word Dharawal itself – it used to be spelt with a T, John explains, because the D and the T are one sound. Now the alphabet is evolving to include letters for sounds that are a combination of two letters.
Dharawal Publishing – supported by the cultural wisdom of Elder Aunty Barb Simms – is growing fast, boosted by the success of Jodi’s books.
“We’ve been so lucky with Jodi,” says John, recalling how his father first met her at a university conference when she was making possum skin cloaks (as she did recently for Alone Australia reality show winner Gina Chick).
“My father encouraged her and all the people who are involved with Dharawal Publishing. It was all born from that seed of enthusiasm for the resurrection of the Dharawal history.
“That’s the story of Dharawal Publishing. It was about someone who ignited something. My father did and that’s why I carried his work on – because it brought a lot of meaning to people’s lives. And that’s really what life’s about, isn’t it?”
Dr Jodi Edwards will in conversation with David Roach at the True Story festival in Coledale on Saturday, November 18. Book tickets via southcoastwriters.org/true-story-festival
