Noel Beddoe – June 10 2018

In commemoration of Aboriginal massacres – Myall Creek June 10 1838

Noel worked as a high school principal for 20 years and has been involved in Aboriginal education for most of his adult life, becoming the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal Education Reference Group. His published works include the novel Autumn, five books of fiction for teenagers, the personal memoir Dad and Me, as well as short fiction, poetry and journalism. Noel lived and worked in education for 12 years in Narrandera, NSW, where he developed friendships with the region’s Wiradjuri elders who told him little-known stories of violent encounters between white settlers and Aboriginal people in the 1830s. Wiradjuri country was home to the warrior Wyndradyne (or Windradyne) who died on 21st March 1829, and it was also the site of many massacres, Myall Creek being the first for which Whites were tried. After two trials, seven colonists were found guilty of murder and hanged.

The Yalda Crossing
University of Queensland Press, 2012; ISBN 9780702249396
‘Young James’ Beckett and his father, the Captain, peacefully establish their Yalda Waters property in Wiradjuri country but with the opening up of land for further settlement, the delicate balance between them and the Wiradjuri is shattered. When new settlers destroy sacred sites and hunting grounds, the Wiradjuri retaliate with attacks on settlers and their stock. What happens next is so shocking it torments Young James for life. Decades later, with the reappearance of enigmatic bushman, Lancaster, in his life, Beckett knows he must confront the haunting truth of his early years, and it is only this chance encounter that provides the final clue to those terrible events. The Yalda Crossing is based on the real massacre of Wiradjuri men, women and children who were corralled onto an island in the Murrumbidgee and killed. Beddoe takes this little-known episode in Australia’s first-contact history and creates from it a gripping adventure about the desperate battle for land and its dreadful consequences, which live on to this day.

On Cringila Hill
University of Queensland Press, 2014; ISBN 9780702249976
When a teenage boy is killed in a targeted shooting, the events that unfold rock the lives of the migrant families of Cringila. School friends Jimmy and Piggy have witnessed the violent crime, but need to protect their fledgling drug business. After seasoned police detective, Gordon Winter, is assigned the murder case, his investigations uncover long-buried secrets and an entrenched culture of loyalty and fear. On Cringila Hill weaves a gripping story of power, racial tensions and blood ties in a once-vibrant industrial community.
‘The author of On Cringila Hill was principal at Warrawong High School for 12 years and this helps give his crime novel a sense of authenticity.’ – Wollongong Advertiser / Lakes Times