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Return to Uluru

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Return to Uluru

By: Mark McKenna
Narrated by: Andrew Martin
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About this listen

A killing. A hidden history. A story that goes to the heart of the nation.

When Mark McKenna set out to write a history of the centre of Australia, he had no idea what he would discover. One event in 1934 - the shooting at Uluru of Aboriginal man Yokununna by white policeman Bill McKinnon and subsequent Commonwealth inquiry - stood out as a mirror of racial politics in the Northern Territory at the time. But then, through speaking with the families of both killer and victim, McKenna unearthed new evidence that transformed the historical record and the meaning of the event for today. As he explains, 'Every thread of the story connected to the present in surprising ways.' In a sequence of powerful revelations, McKenna explores what truth-telling and reconciliation look like in practice.

Return to Uluru brings a cold case to life. It speaks directly to the Black Lives Matter movement but is completely Australian. Recalling Chloe Hooper’s The Tall Man, it is superbly written, moving and full of astonishing, unexpected twists. Ultimately it is a story of recognition and return, which goes to the very heart of the country. At the centre of it all is Uluru, the sacred site where paths fatefully converged.

©2020 Mark McKenna (P)2021 W F Howes Australia, New Zealand & Oceania Indigenous Studies Oceania Social Sciences Specific Demographics True Crime Exciting

Critic Reviews

“Mark McKenna has exposed the wounded heart of Australia. Never has a history of our country so assumed the power of sacred myth. Return to Uluru is a spellbinding story of death and resurrection that is Australian to its core.” (James Boyce)

“Mark McKenna sets the highest standard for truth-telling of the kind that Australians so urgently need if they are to live in this country with honour. I feel sure that this book will become an Australian classic, not the first of its kind, but certainly the most powerful narrative I have read of frontier injustice and its resonance in our lives today.” (Marcia Langton)
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed every part of the book, so much education to be had in one story.
The research and findings that were shared was incredible. I hope the history books get rewritten to show so much more of this real history in our country.

Facts of Australian Aboriginal history

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If you are in any doubt as to the treatment of First Nations People then you won’t be after you read this book. Mark McKenna takes us into the heart of Country and through one black man’s murder and one white man’s belief in himself and the “law” as he saw it, we see a much much bigger picture of the entire treatment of Aboriginals and their families over the last two hundred years.

This book will change your mind forever about the plight of Australia’s Indigenous People.
I wish every Australian would read this book.

Andrew Martin’s narration was superb.

One of the best books II have ever read!

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This book is full of stirring and arresting energy. I know I will come back to it...to absorb and feel its power again and again.

Extraordinary work

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I enjoyed how well researched and in-depth the story was. Very in depth yet broad in its perspective, very respectful of First Nations experience.

Well researched and fascinating story

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Give it a read before visiting the cultural heart of Australia to begin to question the complex relations between blakfellas and whitefellas in this country.

Great book to listen to before visiting Uluṟu

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.