Bruce Pascoe
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Bruce Pascoe (born 1947) is an Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature. As well as his own name, Pascoe has written under the
pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
s Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Pascoe identifies as Aboriginal. Since August 2020, he has been Enterprise Professor in Indigenous Agriculture at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
. Pascoe is best known for his work '' Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?'' (2014), in which he argues that traditional Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...
peoples engaged in
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
,
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
and permanent building construction, and that their practices provide possible models for future sustainable development in Australia.


Early life and education

Pascoe was born in
Richmond, Victoria Richmond is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Richmond recorded a population of 2 ...
in 1947. He grew up in a poor working-class family; his father, Alf, was a carpenter, and his mother, Gloria Pascoe, went on to win a gold medal in lawn bowls at the 1980 Arnhem Paralympics. Pascoe spent his early years on King Island where his father worked at the
tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...
mine. His family moved to
Mornington, Victoria Mornington is a seaside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. It is the most populous locality in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government ...
, when he was 10 years old, and then two years later moved to the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner. He attended the local state school before completing his secondary education at University High School, where his sister had won an academic scholarship. Pascoe went on to attend the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
, initially studying commerce but then transferring to Melbourne State College. After graduating with a
Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...
, he was posted to a small township near
Shepparton Shepparton () (Yorta Yorta language, Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River (Victoria), Goulburn River in northern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Mel ...
. He later taught at
Bairnsdale Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...
for nine years.


Career

While on leave from his teaching career, Pascoe bought a
mixed farming Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops and the raising of livestock. Such agriculture occurs across Asia and in countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, South Africa, China, Central Europe, ...
property and occasionally worked as an
abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...
fisherman. In his spare time he began writing short stories, poetry and newspaper articles. In 1982 he moved back to Melbourne and sought to publish a journal of short stories. He came into conflict with existing publishers and instead decided to form his own company, raising 10,000 in capital with his friend Lorraine Phelan. He ran Pascoe Publishing and Seaglass Books with his wife, Lyn Harwood. From 1982 to 1998 Pascoe edited and published a new quarterly magazine of short fiction, ''Australian Short Stories'', which published all forms of short stories by both established and new writers, including
Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's debut novel, first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her ...
, Gillian Mears and
Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...
. The first issue came close to selling out its initial print run of 20,000. The main character in his 1988 novel ''Fox'' is a fugitive, searching for his Aboriginal identity and home. The book deals with issues such as Aboriginal deaths in custody, discrimination and
land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...
, as well as blending Aboriginal traditions with contemporary life and education. ''Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country'' (2007), whose title is drawn from the
Convincing Ground massacre The Convincing Ground Massacre was a massacre of the Kilcarer gundidj clan of the Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Gunditjmara people, by British whaling, whalers based at Portland, Victoria, Portland Bay in south-eastern Australia. The mass ...
, examines historical documents and eyewitness accounts of incidents in Australian history and ties them in with the "ongoing debates about identity, dispossession, memory and community". It is described in the publisher's
blurb A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book. With the development ...
as a book "for all Australians, as an antidote to the great Australian inability to deal respectfully with the nation's constructed Indigenous past". Pascoe featured in the award-winning documentary series which aired on
SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...
in 2008, ''
First Australians ''First Australians'' is a seven-part Australian historical Documentary film, documentary TV series produced by Blackfella Films over the course of six years, and first aired on SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS TV in October 2008. A book was pu ...
'', has been Director of Commonwealth Australian Studies project for the Commonwealth Schools Commission, and has worked extensively on preserving the
Wathaurong The Wadawurrung nation, also called the Wathaurong, or Wathaurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong, and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin alliance. The ...
language, producing a dictionary of the language. ''Fog a Dox'', a story for young adults, won the
Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...
(Young Adult category) and the 2013
Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, formally titled National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards and commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander a ...
(Published Book of the Year category). Judges for the PM's Award commented that "The author's Aboriginality shines through but he wears it lightly...", in a story which incorporates Indigenous cultural knowledge.


''Dark Emu'' (2014)

'' Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?'', first published in 2014, challenges the claim that pre-colonial Australian Aboriginal peoples were only
hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
s. Pascoe argues that his examination of early settler accounts and other sources provides evidence of agriculture,
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
, engineering and villages of permanent housing in traditional Aboriginal societies. The book won Book of the Year at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and was widely praised for popularising past research on the sophistication of Aboriginal economies. The book also attracted controversy. A favourable review of its cultural implications in the academic online magazine ''The Conversation'' touched off a debate there about Pascoe's use of his historical sources. A second edition, entitled ''Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture'' was published in mid-2018, and a version of the book for younger readers, entitled ''Young Dark Emu: A Truer History'', was published in 2019. The 2019 version was shortlisted for the 2020
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature The South Australian Literary Awards, until 2024 known as the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia. Formerly announced during A ...
in the Children's Literature Award section. The success of ''Dark Emu'' and ''Young Dark Emu'' prompted a book-length critique by Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe who argue that Pascoe selectively quotes sources and misinterprets archaeological and anthropological evidence to draw conclusions which give a misleading view of Aboriginal societies. In October 2019 it was announced that a documentary film of ''Dark Emu'' would be made for television by
Blackfella Films Blackfella Films is an Australian documentary and narrative film production company headquartered in Sydney, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a part ...
, co-written by Pascoe with Jacob Hickey, directed by
Erica Glynn Erica Glynn (born 1964) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker, known for directing, producing and writing documentary film, documentaries and other films. Early life, education and family Glynn was born in 1964. She is the daughter of photogra ...
and produced by Darren Dale and Belinda Mravicic.


Later work and other roles

In September 2015, in a collaboration with
Poets House Poets House is a national literary center and poetry library based in New York City, United States. It contains more than 80,000 volumes of poetry, and is free and open to the public. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, in November 2020, operations ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
, a recording of six First Nations Australia Writers Network members reading their work was presented at a special event, which was recorded. Pascoe was one of the readers, along with Jeanine Leane, Dub Leffler, Melissa Lucashenko,
Jared Thomas Jared Thomas (born 1976) is an Australian author of children's fiction, playwright, and museum curator. Several of his books have been shortlisted for awards, and he has been awarded several fellowships, including a Churchill Fellowship in 2019. ...
and
Ellen van Neerven Ellen van Neerven (born 1990) is an Aboriginal Australian writer, educator and editor. Their first work of fiction, '' Heat and Light'' (2013), won several awards, and in 2019 Van Neerven won the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers ...
. Pascoe was appointed Enterprise Professor in Indigenous Agriculture at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
in September 2020, in a role "within the School of Agriculture and Food,... designed to build knowledge and understanding of Indigenous agriculture within the Faculty and to grow engagement and research activities in this area". Pascoe is a
Country Fire Authority The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a Volunteer fire department, volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia ...
volunteer. He battled the 2019–20 bushfires near Mallacoota. In January 2020, he went to
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
to help out there, before returning to Mallacoota. He cancelled his scheduled appearances at a
Perth Festival Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...
event in February and at the Adelaide Writers' Week in March, to remain in
East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia covering (14%) of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: Ea ...
to assess the damage done to his Mallacoota property, and to assist his community in the recovery effort in the aftermath of the bushfires.


Aboriginal identity

Pascoe states that in his early thirties he found Aboriginal ancestors on both sides of his family, including from Tasmania ( Palawa), from the
Bunurong The Boonwurrung, also spelt Bunurong or Bun wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory ...
people of the
Kulin nation The Kulin nation is an alliance of five Aboriginal nations in the south of Australia - up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys - which shares Culture and Language. History Before British colonisation, the ...
of
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
, and the
Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...
of southern
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
. He identified himself as
Koori Koori (also spelt koorie, goori or goorie) is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal. For some people ...
by the age of 40. He acknowledges his Cornish and European colonial ancestry but says that he feels Aboriginal, writing, "It doesn’t matter about the colour of your skin, it's about how deeply embedded you are in the culture. It's the pulse of my life". He said that his family denied their own Aboriginality for a long time, and it was only when he investigated the "glaring absences" in the family's story that he was drawn into Aboriginal society and culture. In ''Convincing Ground'' (2007), Pascoe wrote about the dangers of "people of broken and distant heritage like me...barging into their rediscovered community expecting to be greeted like the
Prodigal Son The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father; ) is one of the parables of Jesus in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. In Luke 15, Jesus tells this stor ...
", saying that those who have grown up without awareness of their Aboriginality cannot have experienced racism, being removed from family or other disadvantages, and cannot "fully understand what it is to be Aboriginal. You've lost contact with your identity and in quite profound areas it can never be reclaimed." He says that some branches of family trees and public records have often been "pruned of a few branches". In this book and in interviews, Pascoe admits that his Aboriginal ancestry is distant, and that he is "more Cornish than Koori". Following columnist
Andrew Bolt Andrew Bolt (born 26 September 1959) is an Australian conservative social and political commentator. He has worked at the News Corp-owned newspaper company The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT) for many years, for both '' The Herald'' and its succ ...
's breach of the '' Racial Discrimination Act'' in 2011 relating to comments about fair-skinned Aboriginal people, Pascoe suggested that he and Bolt could "have a yarn" together, without rancour, because "I think it's reasonable for Australia to know if people of pale skin identifying as Aborigines are fair dinkum". He described how and why his Aboriginal ancestry – and that of many others – had been buried, and that the full explanation would be very long and involved. In January 2020, Pascoe said he believed allegations that he is not Aboriginal are motivated by wanting to discredit ''Dark Emu''. He had already responded to the Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council's rejection of his connection to the Bunurong, saying his connection was through the Tasmanian family, not through Central Victorian Bunurong. A few days later, the chairman of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania,
Michael Mansell Michael Alexander Mansell (born 5 June 1951) is a Tasmanian Aboriginal (Palawa) activist and lawyer who has campaigned for social, political and legal changes. Mansell is partly of Palawa descent from the Trawlwoolway group on his mother's sid ...
, stated that he does not believe Pascoe has Indigenous ancestry, and he should stop claiming he does. However, Mansell acknowledged that some Indigenous leaders including
Marcia Langton Marcia Lynne Langton (born 31 October 1951) is an Aboriginal Australian writer and academic. she is the Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. Langton is an acti ...
and
Ken Wyatt Kenneth George Wyatt (born 4 August 1952) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, representing the Division of Hasluck for the Liberal Party of ...
supported Pascoe’s Aboriginality based on his claim to community recognition. In 2021, Nyunggai Warren Mundine stated that genealogists "have produced research that all Pascoe’s ancestry can be traced to England. Pascoe has not addressed this and has been persistently vague about who his Aboriginal ancestors are and where they came from." Historian
Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey, (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. Blainey is noted for his authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including ''The Tyranny of ...
stated that "it is now known that ascoe'sfour grandparents were of English descent".


Awards

*1999:
Fellowship of Australian Writers The Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) is a collection or federation of state-based organizations aiming to support and promote the interests of Australian writers. It was established in Sydney in 1928, with the aim of bringing writers togethe ...
– Australian Literature Award for ''Shark'', joint winner (with
David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...
). *2013:
Prime Minister's Literary Award The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 Australian federal election, 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts (Aust ...
– Young Adult Fiction. *2013:
Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, formally titled National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards and commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander a ...
– Published book of the year. *2016: NSW Premier's Literary Award for ''
Dark Emu ''Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?'' is a 2014 non-fiction book by Bruce Pascoe. It re-examines colonial accounts of Aboriginal people in Australia, and cites evidence of pre-colonial agriculture, engineering and building cons ...
'' *2016:
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
– Indigenous Writers' Prize. *2018:
Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...
– Lifetime Achievement Award. *2020: Children's Book of the Year Award, Eve Pownall Award for Information Books for ''Young Dark Emu''. *2021:
Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...
– ASA Medal. Pascoe was nominated as Person of the Year at the National Dreamtime Awards 2018, and was also invited by Yuin elder Max Dulumunmum Harrison to a special cultural ceremony lasting several days. In the same year he presented "Mother Earth" for the Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture.


Personal life

In 1982, Pascoe separated from a woman whom he had married after graduating from college. They have a daughter. In the same year, he married Lyn Harwood. They have a son. In 2017, Pascoe and Harwood separated. According to Pascoe, the split was due to his many absences and his late-life mission to pursue farming. Pascoe lives on a farm, Yumburra, near Mallacoota in
East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia covering (14%) of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: Ea ...
, on the eastern coast of Victoria. He is also working for his family-run company, Black Duck Foods, which is aiming to produce the type of Indigenous produce mentioned in ''Dark Emu'' on a commercial scale. His 2024 book is titled ''Black Duck – A Year at Yumburra''.


Works

The following list is a selection of the 182 items by Pascoe as listed on
Austlit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature) is a national bio-bibliographical database of Australian literature. It is an internet-based, ...
: *''A Corner Full of Characters'', Blackstone Press, 1981, *''Night Animals'', Penguin Books, 1986, *''Fox'', McPhee Gribble/Penguin books, 1988, *''Ruby-eyed Coucal'', Magabala Books, 1996, *''Wathaurong : Too bloody strong : Stories and life journeys of people from Wathaurong'', Pascoe Publishing, 1997, *''Cape Otway: Coast of secrets'' (1997) *''Shark'', Magabala Books, 1999, *''Nightjar'', Seaglass Books, 2000, *''Earth'', Magabala Books, 2001, *''Ocean'', Bruce Sims Books, 2002, *''Foxies in a Firehose : A piece of doggerel from Warragul'', Seaglass Books, 2006, * * *''The Little Red Yellow Black Book : An introduction to indigenous Australia'', Aboriginal Studies Press, 2008, *''Fog a Dox'', Magabala Books, 2012, *'' Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture Or Accident?'', Magabala Books, 2014, *''Seahorse'', Magabala Books, 2015, *''Mrs Whitlam'', Magabala Books, 2016, *''Young Dark Emu: A Truer History'', Magabala Books, 2019, *''Salt: Selected Stories and Essays'', Black Inc, 2019, *''Black Duck – A Year at Yumburra'', with Lyn Harwood, Thames & Hudson, 2024, He has also written under the names Murray Gray (''The Great Australian Novel: At Last it's Here'', a 1984 satirical novel) and Leopold Glass (''Ribcage: All You Need Is $800,000 – Quickly'', a 1999 detective novel).


References


Further reading

* *Pascoe, Bruce. Talk given on 8 July 2000. , Art Gallery of New South Wales, 14 July 2009 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pascoe, Bruce 1947 births 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian non-fiction writers 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian short story writers Australian fiction writers Australian male short story writers Australian nature writers Australian publishers (people) Australian writers of young adult literature Australian people of Cornish descent Indigenous Australian academics Indigenous Australian writers Living people People from Richmond, Victoria Writers from Melbourne People educated at University High School, Melbourne