El diario de Mary Talence
ANITA HEISS

Published in March 2005 in Spanish

Original title: "Who am I? – The diary of Mary Talence"

Mary Talence is a ten year old aboriginal girl who lives in an orphanage for aboriginal children in the Australia of 1937. She feels happy there and beloved by her carers and the other children, but she is plagued with the memories of her real family who nobody seems to know nothing about. Although one day there is a sudden change in her life, Mary never stops asking herself about her real identiy and the social situation she has to live in.

Using the innocent and imaginative view of a child, Anita Heiss describes the racial segregation experienced by Australia until the 70s. In doing so she reveals an inconvenient period of recent Australian history. Thousands of children personally suffered similar situations like that told in the fictitious diary; persons who nowadays a part of the so-called “Lost Generation”.

Anita Heiss is a well-known Australian author and activist with wiradjuri roots. Her book “The diary of Mary Talence” was nominated for the Australian “NSW Premier’s History Award ” prize in 2002.