Queensland Family History Society Inc
QFHS Calendar Event
Members Lounge - Book Club - Dirrayawadha by Anita Heiss
Starts: 23 Feb 2026 at 10:00 AM
Ends: 23 Feb 2026 at 11:30 AM
Notes:
THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD ONLINE. Our Book Club is the perfect gathering for those who seek the fascinating intersection of local and contemporary authors in the realm of family history. Our book club is designed for family historians. We will read both fiction and non-fiction and share our opinions. Highbrow, lowbrow - we do not care as long as we are reading good writing and learning something along the way. The Book Club events are Members Only events. Non-members are encouraged to have a look at all of the activities of the society. In particular, check out the Members Lounge webpage where all members only events are listed. If you feel keen to attend these activities, please join us.
- Photo of Anita Heiss is copyright Jesse Dittmar
- Shortlisted for the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards, The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award
From the bestselling, prize-winning author of Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray comes another groundbreaking historical novel about resistance, resilience and love during the frontier wars.
Miinaa was a young girl when the white ghosts first arrived. She remembers the day they raised a piece of cloth and renamed her homeland ‘Bathurst’. Now she lives at a placed called Cloverdale and works for the Nugents – a kind family, but nothing like her own.
Her brother, Windradyne, is a Wiradyuri leader, and visits when he can, bringing news of unrest across their ngurambang. Miinaa hopes the violence will not come to Cloverdale.
When Irish convict Daniel O’Dwyer arrives at the settlement, Miinaa’s life is transformed again. The pair are magnetically drawn to each other and begin meeting at the bila in secret. Dan understands how it feels to be displaced, but they still have a lot to learn about each other. Can their love survive their differences and the turmoil that threatens to destroy everything around them?
Anita Heiss is breathing new life into the Australian historical epic. Dirrayawadha (Rise Up) shows the resistance leader Windradyne as the remarkable figure he was and surrounds him with fascinating figures otherwise lost to history. With irresistible imagination and verve, as well as a deep desire for truth telling, Anita Heiss’s novels are re-peopling our past.