The title comes from the Indigenous affirmation talking about connection to Country and the fact that sovereignty over this land was never ceded: Always was. Always will be. The second sentence infers the future, and this is when these stories are set.
The exclusion from white society works in the favour of Indigenous communities for once. (We) Whitefellas have continued to wring as much as we could out of the land in pursuit of the dollar. The long-term failure of these ideals has left the land scarred by bushfires and broken by rapacious disregard. The Tweed – Bundjalung country – is now back under the custodianship of those whose care for it has never ceased.
Inside are 17 speculative fiction stories, along with an introduction, ‘Jingi Wallah’, and acknowledgement, ‘Bugalbeh’. The first story, ‘Taking Our Time’ sets the mood for what follows. Here, after the apocalypse, Indigenous people gather all the whitefella time-keeping devices (watches, clocks, diaries etc) and dispose of them in a bog. Time is allowed to return to its circular and seasonal rhythms – an enticing prospect.
‘Blood and Soil’ sees an Indigenous father returning to Country and teaching his son, Jacob, cultural traditions. Jacob, however, takes these lessons in a different direction. ‘Tweed Sanctuary Tour’ helps visitors understand cultural living: it’s not designed to be ‘utopia’, but simply, ‘healthy culture’. There’s whimsy in ‘Terranora’ and ‘Cyclone Season’, where ocean bikies use jet skis, rather than bikes. (It’s whimsical until you realise they’re only on jet skis because the roads have now been subsumed by sea level rises.)
The writing is confident and joyful, reflecting the freedom offered by the ability to return to Country and its culture.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mykaela Saunders ia a Koori/Goori and Lebanese writer, teacher, researcher and editor. She has won prizes for fiction, poetry, life writing and research. Her writing has been widely published across forms, genres and disciplines, and my projects have attracted funding and fellowships.
Always Will Be: Stories of Goori sovereignty from the futures of the Tweed won the 2022 David Unaipon award, and is out now from UQP.
She is the editor of This All Come Back Now, the Aurealis Award-winning, world first collection of blackfella speculative fiction.
She has worked in Aboriginal education in various capacities since 2003, and taught at the tertiary level since 2012. Her research explores my community’s past, present and future.
She is of Dharug descent and I belong to the Tweed Goori community. She lives and works with gratitude on the lands of the Dharug, Kulin, and Bundjalung nations – Sydney, Melbourne, and the northern rivers of NSW.
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