An Intruder’s Guide to East Arnhem Land

Initially published by Duffy & Snellgrove (Sydney) in 2001, this prize-winning book was revised and updated in 2007 and reissued by Niblock Publishing, Darwin. It has since been awarded the Chief Minister’s 2009 Northern Territory Book of the Year.

 

“In my view it’s the greatest book that’s been written in northern Australia and the only book which stands comparison to Xavier Herbert’s Capricornia.” - Nicolas Rothwell, NT Stateline, ABC-TV (06 Feb 2009).

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• ‘This is an extremely valuable book, full of the kind of knowledge and understanding… We’re talking of innovation, communication, a book that really engages the imagination with questions of national identity and story in a compelling way … If Andrew never writes another book, this one is a very major and satisfying achievement.’ - Peter Bishop, Director, Varuna- The Writers’ Centre. 2009.
   
• ‘… Part autobiography, part travelogue, part poetic description of the landscape but mostly history, this book should be compulsory reading for anyone wanting to learn about Aboriginal Australia… McMillan is an astute observer who has left his rose-tinted glasses at home. His assessment of Yolngu society is critical, compassionate, humorous and honest. His research is meticulous. The result is a book of great integrity that offers an image of a rich culture buffeted by a strange mixture of isolation, contact and ruthless interference.’ - Bruce Elder, The Age / Sydney Morning Herald (19 July 2008).
   
• ‘An Intruder’s Guide to East Arnhem Land … is broad in its historical sweep. The distance that McMillan is able to maintain allows him to see hope … I found the portraits of life and culture absorbing and thought-provoking. - Will Owen’s blog Aboriginal Art & Culture: an American eye (13 February 2006)
   
• ‘…Andrew McMillan explores the long history of cross-cultural contacts between the Aboriginal people of this Top End paradise and ‘intruders’ by sea, land and air. What intrigued McMillan was the fact that, almost alone of their people, the Yolngu have maintained a semi-traditional way of life and a vigorous traditional culture … The story that follows is fascinating, particularly when it comes to the reasons for the very different outcomes for Yolngu and Anindilyakwa … depending on whether they were ‘in the care’ of Methodist or Anglican missionaries in the 1940s and 50s.’ -
  Jill Kitson, Book Talk, ABC Radio National.
   
• ‘…a sober piece of writing: McMillan combines textured descriptions of Yolgnu politics and life with dry but lucid historical narrative…. provides an immense amount of information on Yolgnu beliefs, Yolgnu politics, contact history and contemporary Yolgnu life….’ - Philip Morrisey, Australian Book Review (September 2002)
   
• ‘…absolutely monumental…’ - Mark Mordue. HQ {June 2002}
   
• ‘…detailed and well researched…brings the region to life through its own dynamic history…the best concise insight I have read on the region’s history… a journey in itself…’ - Adam Black, Land Rights News  {Vol 3 #8 Dec 2001}
   
•  ’McMillan’s history of black-white contacts in the Top End, a decade in the making, takes its readers on a dizzying ride… Above all else, the book brings to the modern Aboriginal world a pair of clear, unsentimental eyes: Mandawuy Yunupingu, lead singer of Yothu Yindi, notes in his introduction that the book will “rock some popular perceptions of contemporary life in the region”. This is putting things mildly: what McMillan (is) actually offering is a way of approaching the remote Aboriginal domain and its inhabitants as real human beings. Here they are, our fellow citizens, strange yet familiar, as near as they are far away.’ - Nicolas Rothwell, The Weekend Australian - Review {27-28 October 2001}

 

 

Strict Rules

The Blackfella - Whitefella Tour

Hodder & Stoughton, Sydney/London, 1988
Sceptre, Sydney, 1992
Niblock Publishing, Darwin, 2008

 

• Andrew McMillan’s Strict Rules: The Blackfella-Whitefella Tour, a timely, revelatory account of Midnight Oil’s tour of remote Aboriginal communities in Central and Northern Australia was reprinted by Niblock Publishing twenty years after its original publication. It is an indelible read about a rock band on a mission, but also where whitefellas, with the best intentions, can’t go, and what they can’t know. Peter Garrett emerges from the narrative as an austere man of enviable integrity and determination. - Dorothy Porter, Best Books of 2008, Australian Book Review (December 2008-January 2009)
   
• My year’s reading has been marked by three books about loners….In 2008 Strict Rules: The Blackfella-Whitefella Tour by Andrew McMillan was reprinted by Niblock Publishing in Darwin. This vividly narrated account of Midnight Oil’s tour of remote Aboriginal communities in Central and Northern Australia was first published 20 years ago. It presents an indelible portrait of another loner, another decent, driven man trapped in his destiny - Peter Garrett, the charismatic, if austere, front man for the Oils.’ - Dorothy Porter, The Age (13 Dec 2008).
   
• ‘Perhaps the first example of gonzo-flavoured, yet distinctly Australian-accented, reportage from the Aboriginal world.’ - Weekend Australian Review {27-28 Oct 2001}
   
• ‘A first book by a young writer came out quietly last year, only to be virtually lost amid the many bicentennial publications. It would be a great pity for such a fine work to fall into oblivion. … Strict Rules is an odyssey through the Aboriginal lands, history and culture, examining the relationships to the land and the interaction between cultures as well as the politics of race relations in this country. … The more you read of Strict Rules the more Midnight Oil sinks into the background, becoming virtually incidental to McMillan’s wonderful description of the Aborigines of the Northern Territory and their land.’ - Daily Telegraph Sydney {17 Sep 1989}
   
• ‘McMillan’s unquenchable passion for balls-to-the-wall hard rock is filtered through a surprising sensitivity and awareness of non-urban Australia and its people …lyrical, emotive travel writing …Like Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines, it is often an education for those of us denied, as children, any real instruction in our indigenous culture’ - Glenn A. Baker Sydney Morning Herald {13 May 1989}
   
• ‘Beautifully written, a rigorously documented rock ‘n’ roll/political tale of our times  … No-one else has described this country so well.’ - Paul Toohey RAM {19 Apr 1989}
   
• ‘A fascinating account of Aboriginal culture in the Northern Territory’ -  Courier Mail {18 Mar 1989}
   
• ‘Vivid and compassionate, it is the best attempt since the publication of Sally Morgan’s My Place to open the eyes of non-Aboriginals to the depth and humanity of an ancient culture on the edge of annihilation and the special obstacles that make the revitalisation of a desperate people so difficult.’ - Cairns Post {11 Mar 1989}
   
• ‘Nothing short of a masterpiece …a book every Australian should read and pass on’ -  Centralian Advocate {10 Mar 1989}
   
• ‘The book is, in a sense, a tour through the Northern Territory, all related in a descriptive and colourful style. But of more substance, it is also a personal study of the very different lifestyles of the people of the Territory - and therein lies the book’s strength.’ - Townsville Bulletin {18 Feb 1989}
• ‘Written in the style of a “road movie”, it takes the reader into the heart of the continent’ - The Weekend Australian {11-12 Feb 1989}
   
• ‘Easily the best rock book Australia has produced. Even though it’s not really about music.’ - Sun-Herald {22 Jan 1989}
   
• ‘The book is concerned with the comi-tragical experiences of white culture meeting black … (an) in-depth look at how time changes in the outback … a rock ‘n’ roll story of mind games, popstar one-upman-ship and organisational cock-ups.’ -  Juke magazine {24 Dec 1988}
   
• ‘a tale both of hope and of horror’ - Melbourne Herald {24 Dec 1988}
   
• ‘The main point to remember is that this is not a book about music, despite the fact that it chronicles a tour by two rock bands … McMillan delivers some beautiful images in his descriptions of communities such as Yuendemu and Papunya and his portraits of many of the people to be found there. Strict Rules is far more than a book about music.’ - Sunday Times {11 Dec 1988}
   
• ‘This clear sighted account … swings easily from rock road novel to examination of Aboriginal lore.’ Sunday Telegraph {11 Dec 1988}
   
• ‘As a social commentary on a people and a part of the country we don’t know about, this is a useful and readable documentary … the book entertainingly paints in the warts and all, resisting the temptation to romanticise.’ - City Life

 

Catalina Dreaming

Duffy & Snellgrove, Syd, 2002 {ISBN 1 876631 28 7}

Louis Braille Audio, Melb, 2003 {ISBN 0 7320 2753 5}

• “Andrew McMillan’s account of the air, land and sea escapades of the men who flew in (Catalinas) is salted with irresistible stories… The now fading men who crewed these flying boats…have been interviewed just in time; their reminiscences are full of humour that seems to go with such an awkward and endearing aircraft.” – Barry Oakley, Weekend Australian, 22-23.06.02
   
• “A fascinating book… Catalina Dreaming tells a rare story of Australians at war… a largely overlooked story of everyday life in war told largely in the words of service personnel and Top End Aborigines… his storytelling of aircraft and crews is vivid and his enthusiasm infectious.” : Rod McGuirk, AAP (Geelong Advertiser, 18.04.02 / Hobart Mercury, 18.05.02 / Townsville Bulletin, 27.04.02 / NT News, 29.04.02)
   
• “With affection he tells the stories of the crews - both air and ground and the story of the aircraft they often came to love… Fortunately, McMillan was able to tune into their wavelength and log the exploits of these intrepid airmen before they make their final flight into the night.” - Canberra Times, 27.04.02
   
• “Andrew McMillan tells the story of these lumbering beauties from the point of view of those who flew in them and looked after them. With empathy and a light touch, he details the job to be done under the harshest of flying conditions, seeking out and destroying Japanese bases and shipping, and losing 207 crew in the process.” - Herald-Sun review, 20.04.02
   
• “This book details the rescues, escapes and missions of the crews of this remarkable aircraft.” - Sunday Tasmanian, 21.04.02
   
• “…he tracked down the pilots and has compiled a first person history. High on atmosphere and not so technical as to turn off the lay-reader.” –Courier Mail, 06.04.02
   
• “The author has done his research well. What we read has an authentic, eyewitness feel to it. His word pictures of places and events are exquisite… It is told in a mixture of third-person present and past tense, making the reader feel like a guest escorted around the base and its aircraft. If you have any kind of empathy with aircraft, read this book. It’s well worth it.” – Cpl Jonathon Garland, Army, Navy, Air Force newspapers, 09.05.02
   
• “…an outstanding job… You get the taste, you get the flavour of what life must have been as a Catalina aircrew person, as a Catalina ground crew person, as someone who had to go out there…as Andrew has proven, it’s also about the humans and the stories. If we don’t get the humans and the stories, it’s not true history. It’s about how people felt, it’s about the challenges they dealt with. Andrew has brought that to a level of intensity which I found very valuable… He was able to describe and bring out the challenges of making military aviation occur in the most difficult of environments… Today we enjoy the fruits of freedom, and I think that that freedom can only be tasted in its true flavour if we look at it through the eyes of people like Andrew. This book does that… This book is about the challenges of warfare, about the challenges of standing up for what’s right. The truths that are in it don’t change. The commitment of people to do things that are right doesn’t change. Andrew in writing this book has honoured those people and for that, Andrew, I thank you intensely.” - Group Captain John Oddie, Deputy Commander, Operational Support, Headquarters Northern Command, book launch speech, Doctors Gully, Darwin, 02.05.02

 

Death in Dili

 

Sceptre, Sydney, 1992 {ISBN 0 340 57849 1}

’should be made compulsory reading for all those bureaucrats who have portrayed Indonesia’s illegal annexation of East Timor as just a footnote in history … his straight narrative is rather deftly juxtaposed with quirky “jumpcuts” to tales of his own troubled travels there.” - The Age  {8 Nov 1992}

 

• ‘interesting, but not pleasant, reading.’ - Courier Mail {14 Nov 1992}
   
• ‘first-class reporting … well told … iconoclastic’ - Canberra Times. {28 Nov 1992}
   
• ‘reads like a thriller’ -  The Age  {28 Nov 1992}
   
• ‘Without doubt the most readable and accessible work currently available on East Timor. Part travelogue, part history, part denunciation of Australian betrayal alongside a record of Indonesian brutality and arrogance, it gives an excellent account of how East Timor got to where it is today … Death In Dili reads in places like a novel. The style is gutsy … Even for someone who has read so much on the subject, this book was often hard to put down, as gripping as a well-told yarn … It’s the first of its kind in the growing bibliography of East Timor.’ - Carmel Budiardjo, TAPOL Bulletin, London {#114. Dec 1992)
   
• ‘a remarkable account … dry humour …a book well worth reading’ - Green Left {2 Dec 1992}
   
• ‘writes in a highly entertaining “gonzo” style … exhaustively researched work’ - The West Australian {2 Jan 1993}
   
• ’smart-arse temerity’ -  The Weekend Australian {20-21 Feb 1993}