Daughter of the river country
O'Brien, Dianne2021
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From a victim of the 'stolen generations' comes a remarkable memoir of abuse, survival - and ultimately hope. Born in country NSW in the 1940s, baby Dianne is immediately taken from her Aboriginal mother. Raised in the era of the White Australia policy, Dianne grows up believing her adoptive Irish mother, Val, is her birth mother. Val promises Dianne that one day they will take a trip and she will 'tell her a secret'. But before they get the chance, Val tragically dies. Abandoned by her adoptive father, Dianne is raped at the age of 15, sentenced to Parramatta Girls' Home and later forced to marry her rapist in order to keep her baby. She goes on to endure horrific domestic violence at the hands of different partners, alcohol addiction and cruel betrayal by those closest to her. But amazingly her fighting spirit is not extinguished. At the age of 36, while raising six kids on her own, Dianne learns she is Aboriginal and that her great-grandfather was William Cooper, a famous Aboriginal activist. Miraculously she finds a way to forgive her traumatic past and becomes a leader in her own right, vowing to help other 'stolen people' just like her.
Main title:
Daughter of the river country / Dianne O'Brien ; with Sue Williams.
Author:
O'Brien, Dianne, authorWilliams, Sue, 1959 April 2-, author
Imprint:
London : Echo Publishing, 2021.
Collation:
266 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), portraits (some colour) ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9781760686574
Dewey class:
305.89915 OBR305.89915
Language:
English
Subject:
O'Brien, Dianne -- Childhood and youthO'Brien, Dianne -- FamilyO'Brien, DianneParramatta Girls Home (Parramatta, N.S.W.)Aboriginal Australians -- BiographyAboriginal Australians, Treatment ofDesertion and non-support -- AustraliaHuman rights workers -- Australia -- BiographyWomen, Aboriginal Australian -- BiographyStolen generations (Australia) -- BiographyAutobiographies
BRN:
37766
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