Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka (2025) 'Not many free colour folks lef'round here': Truth telling in the sugar country narratives of John Naish. Aboriginal History, 49. pp. 115-139.

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

John Naish, Welsh author and playwright, was ahead of his time in his condemnation of Indigenous–white relationships and in his appreciation of the reality of Indigenous dispossession in tropical north Queensland. This was a legacy that spilled over into the cane fields where, as a £10 assisted immigrant, Naish cut cane in the 1950s and 1960s when immigrants directed to cut cane invariably encountered people of colour. Naish was therefore uniquely placed to write critically of the racial tensions he observed in the small sugar towns and of the means used to subjugate Aboriginal people to ongoing surveillance and control. In a time before Aboriginal writers appropriated the right to speak to their own realities Naish wrote sensitively and realistically giving his Indigenous characters subversive power that challenged the white characters’ assumption of rights. His works are a medium for not only understanding the past but are a mirror reflecting the uncomfortable reality of being an Indigenous person in 1950s in small town tropical north Queensland, subjected to white racism and institutionalised injustices and exploitation.

Item ID:	92302
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1837-9389
Keywords:	John Naish, North Queensland literature,Australian Aboriginal history, cane cutting, Protection system, racism
Copyright Information:	© 2026 ANU Press and Aboriginal History Inc.
Sensitivity Note:	Language used in the novels by John Naish are racist, but he used that languaged in context to illustrate the racism experienced by Aboriginal people in 1950s in north Queensland.
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2026 23:43
FoR Codes:	45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4501 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and history > 450107 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history @ 25% 36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3602 Creative and professional writing > 360201 Creative writing (incl. scriptwriting) @ 50% 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4303 Historical studies > 430302 Australian history @ 25%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1307 Understanding past societies > 130703 Understanding Australia’s past @ 50% 21 INDIGENOUS > 2104 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture > 210499 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture not elsewhere classified @ 25% 26 PLANT PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 2606 Industrial crops > 260607 Sugar @ 25%
	More Statistics