Reflections on Identity and Heritage

Author and professor Anita Heiss on her parents' story of romance, and how she brings true history alive in her work.

Anita Heiss is a Wiradjuri woman, an author of many books and Professor of Communications at The University of Queensland.

She has described herself as a “concrete Koori with Westfield dreaming.”

Many of Anita's books focus on great love stories, and the inspiration for these romances came from the enduring, devoted love she saw between her parents – the very Austrian “Joe-the-carpenter”, and Elsie, a proud Wiradjuri woman.

Anita’s latest book goes back to the 1800s, bringing to life the brutal frontier wars in Bathurst, when martial law was declared.

This episode of Conversations discusses First Nations Australians, interracial relationships, Indigenous culture, colonisation, colonialism, family, origin stories, love stories, Australian history, ancestry.