A significant late-1970s issue of Meanjin devoted to Aboriginal writing, politics, culture, language, sovereignty and representation, published at a point when Australian literary institutions were still very much being forced, slowly and often badly, to confront the fact that “national literature” had been built on a fairly spectacular act of exclusion. 

This is not just “an old literary journal” in the usual nice-but-dusty sense. The contributor is extraordinary. Kath Walker / Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Colin Johnson / Mudrooroo, Bobbi Sykes, Gerald Bostock, Aileen Corpus, Les Murray and others. It sits inside a much sharper history: Indigenous writing moving through, against, and beyond settler literary gatekeeping; debates over language, authenticity, cultural inheritance, performance, publication, and who gets to interpret whom.

The Aboriginal flag design on the cover gives it immediate visual and historical force, while the contents make it a useful object for readers interested in First Nations literature, Australian literary history, postcolonial writing, land rights-era cultural politics, and the uneasy machinery of literary recognition. A small, loaded artefact. Not decorative nostalgia — an important part of the archive.

Original paperback issue of Meanjin, Vol. 36, No. 4, 1977: “Aboriginal Issue.” Good second-hand condition with general shelf wear, light rubbing and creasing to covers, and some age-toning/handling wear internally.