This project aims to deepen our understanding of the role that ‘country’ plays in the context of life, healing and connection. By prioritising active listening and learning, we aim to cultivate a greater appreciation of the culture and knowledge of First Nations.
Reading Country is an engagement project that explores Indigenous culture through literature. The initiative is organised by allies at Melbourne Connect who are dedicated to enhancing reconciliation through reading and community engagement.
Reading Country provides a unique opportunity for University staff, students and members of our community – both allies and First Nations people alike – to come together and participate in a book group that explores and celebrates works written by Indigenous Australian authors.
For our first book for 2025 we are reading Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie. The publisher UQP writes of Edenglassie:
"In this epic novel set in Brisbane when First Nations people still outnumber the colonists, award-winning Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko tells two extraordinary stories set five generations apart.
"Edenglassie has won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Indie Book Award for Fiction, the BookPeople Adult Fiction Book of the Year and the Queensland Premier's Award for a work of State Significance."
You can pick up a copy from your local library, bookshop or from the publisher themselves.
You have until May to read this book and in addition to our lunch time session (on a Tuesday) we're also trialling an after-work session too. Please sign up to the meeting time that suits you best so we have an idea regarding numbers:
To book for either day visit this Eventbrite page.
The first iteration of Reading Country was held during Reconciliation Week 2023 and explored Tony Birch’s The White Girl, while the second iteration of Reading Country featured books celebrating and exploring the Uluru Statement from the Heart. More recent iterations featured Tyson Yunkaporta’s Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking and Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and The University of Melbourne - Volume 1: Truth (authored by Ross L Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton).
In 2025 we’ll be hosting three book groups, with the aim of reading fiction (May), non-fiction (July) and poetry (in October).
Whether you are interested in leading a book group or joining an existing one, Melbourne Connect will assist with all the administrative tasks so you can focus on reading and connecting with others. We welcome readers, facilitators, and organisers from all backgrounds who share our passion for Indigenous Australian literature. To learn more, sign up and we will be in touch with you shortly.
The purpose of Reading Country is to:
Reading Country values:
This project has been organised on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people, and with respect to their elders, and to all Aboriginal elders past and present.
Reading Country acknowledges that for reconciliation to occur, non-Indigenous Australians need to take responsibility for learning about Aboriginal culture and perspectives.
This project has received input from Indigenous colleagues at the University, as well as non-Indigenous staff and allies, to ensure that this project operates in an inclusive and respectful manner. We welcome your feedback to support the growth of this initiative.
We also acknowledge that this land was never ceded and that it has always been, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
More Information
Please email Steve Grimwade at Melbourne Connect.
