Cultural Connections to Land and Heritage

The ghost people arrived by boat. They never left. But the stories of first encounters and what came next live large, 250 years later, in First Nations families and communities. An ambitious journey to reclaim the names and stories disappeared by Captain James Cook, but never lost.  A deeply personal excavation of herstories and the women wrenched from their Country by colonial sealers. A Polish freedom fighter and the fight for the mountain that bears his name. Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to talk ghosts, reclaimation and revival with four authors at the 2025 Sorrento Writers Festival.

Speakers 

Darren Rix and Dr Craig Cormick, co-authors of Warra Warra Wai: How indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook and what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People (Scribner Australia. 2024)

Tasma Walton, actor, screenwriter, novelist and author of  I am Nannertgarrook (S&S Bundyi, 2025) Anthony Sharwood, journalist and author of Kosciuszko: The Incredible Life of the Man Behind The Mountain (Hachette Australia, 2024)

Thanks to festival founder and director Corrie Perkin and the Sorrento Festival production team.