Frank Byrne with Frances Coughlan and Gerard Waterford
Living in Hope, Ptilotus Press, Alice Springs, 2017
A memoir of boyhood by a man who was removed as a child – from country, from culture and language, from family, from his mother. Filled with surprises and unlikely fun, this is more than just a story of surviving. From hiding out from the Japanese in spring-fed caves in the deep Kimberley, to being let loose in a paddock just like a poddy calf at Moola Bulla, to cowboy comics at the Beagle Bay mission. A story of white bosses, of priest bosses, of black stockmen and of staying out of trouble. With honesty and unexpected graciousness, Frank reminds us of a not-so-distant past and of how things happened for Aboriginal people in the North West. (blurb)
The book is the winner of the Small Press Network award for the Most Underrated Book 2018. IndigenousX report. Alice Springs News report.
The book is reviewed for Honest History by David Stephens. Territory Stories (NT Government), 2017. Alice Springs News in August. ABC radio Alice Springs in November.
Frank Byrne died on 20 October 2017. Warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: this content contains images and/or voices of deceased persons.