Why Weren’t We Told? Janet Osborne on the first 50 years of colonisation in WA

In springtime, stunning wildflowers bloom along roadsides leading to the many Native Missions and State institutions in Western Australia that once served effectively as concentration camps for thousands of Aboriginal children.

A companion novel to the multi-award-winning documentary film Genocide in the Wildflower State, Why Weren’t We Told? offers a deeply moving and disturbing exposé of the often denied and dismissed reality of racist state thinking, and the resulting misery families experience today. It gives voice to Survivors’ urgent calls for redress and compensation for these grave wrongs.

Jim Morrison spoke with anthropologist and writer Janet Osborne about her research and contribution to the book spanning the first 50 years of colonisation in WA for Moorditj Mag.

Why Weren’t We Told is published by Upswell.