Description
A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia’s frontier wars
David Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result – a soul-searching Australian history.
This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the colonial world – of land seized, fortunes made and lost, and the violence let loose as squatters and their allies fought for possession of the country – a war still unresolved in today’s Australia.
Killing for Country: A Family Story by David Marr has won both the Nonfiction Award and overall Book of the Year in the 2024 Indie Book Awards. The judges commented: ‘A magisterial book that will retain its value for years to come, this is a grim and brutal subject handled in a measured and thoroughly researched way. It is not easy reading, but it is necessary reading… Killing for Country is a brave and bold book that records a story that has been rarely encountered by readers.’ In further happy news for David Marr, Killing for Country has also made the shortlist for Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year in the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards.
“This book is more than a personal reckoning with Marr’s forebears and their crimes. It is an account of an Australian war fought here in our own country, with names, dates, crimes, body counts and the ghastly, remorseless views of the ‘settlers’. Thank you, David.”—Marcia Langton
“[Marr is] one of the country’s most accomplished non-fiction writers. I was sometimes reminded of Robert Hughes’ study of convict transportation, The Fatal Shore (1987), in the epic quality of this book … Killing For Country is a timely exercise in truth-telling amid a disturbing resurgence of denialism.” —Frank Bongiorno, The Age
“Killing for Country … stands out for its unflinching eye, its dogged research, and the quality and power of its writing.” —Mark McKenna, Australian Book Review
“It’s a timely, vital story.” —Jason Steger, The Age
“The timing of this book is painfully exquisite and it demonstrates perfectly how little race politics have changed in Australia.” —Lucy Clark, The Guardian
PB 2023 432pp
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Burns –
A very confronting book. Well done David Marr. The whole process would have been daunting, both on a personal and professional level. As a student of Australian History both as a school teacher and Principal (for well over 40 years) I have always lamented the fact that so much of our true history was kept from our school students. This book should be compulsory reading for all teachers and senior students in Australian schools. A comment David made recently on radio concerning the No vote and its relationship to many of its proponents to denial of this aspect of Australian History really struck home to me as I read. I would dearly hope that Peter Dutton would read this book as another thought thought that came to me while reading was his statement that his view of Indigenous history was shaped by his time as a Queensland Police Officer answering domestic violence calls. He really needs to be locked in room with this book and not let out until he has finished it. ( I wonder if Mundine and Price have taken the time to read it as well).