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Terra Nullius

By: Claire G. Coleman
Narrated by: Mark Coles Smith, Tamala Shelton
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Publisher's Summary

Highly Commended in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2017

Longlisted for the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2018

Longlisted for the Stella Prize 2018

Jacky was running. There was no thought in his head, only an intense drive to run. There was no sense he was getting anywhere, no plan, no destination, no future. All he had was a sense of what was behind, what he was running from. Jacky was running.

The natives of the colony are restless. The settlers are eager to have a nation of peace, and to bring the savages into line. Families are torn apart, reeducation is enforced. This rich land will provide for all.

This is not Australia as we know it. This is not the Australia of our history. This Terra Nullius is something new, but all too familiar.

This is an incredible debut from a striking new Australian-Aboriginal voice.

©2018 Claire G. Coleman (P)2018 Hachette Australia Audio

Critic Reviews

"The truth that lies at the heart of this novel is impossible to ignore." (Books+Publishing)

What listeners say about Terra Nullius

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A slow start to a much needed story

While I found the story slow for the first half of the book the later half had me fully engaged. I came across this book as a science fiction fan but leave it as a true fan of the author. At times the truths told through fiction were hard for me to hear but the perspective of the colonised is something White Australia desperately needs to listen to.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

This book was beautifully narrated - the use of Australian voice actors was so refreshing and added to the overall feel of the narrative. This book was a surprise and flipped my expectations of what the story would become - very clever and full of thought provoking metaphor and nuance. Highly recommend for everyone to read!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Too weird for my liking

I bought this expecting historical fiction and got aliens halfway into the story. Too weird and not what I was looking for.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

just alright

didn't love it, couldn't finish it but also didn't hate it. Just didn't catch my attention.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Clumsy


The themes at the core of this work, of cultural displacement, of common humanity, of a failure to value the richness of cultures we view as alien are important. Sadly I found the rendering of characters thin and one dimensional. I like the way if defies generic conventions, but ultimately, I did not believe in any of the characters enough to get emotionally involved in the story. An interesting idea that for me fails in the execution.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • raz
  • 03-12-2019

Great way to tell the story of Australia

How do you tell stories in the digital age. Terra Nullius is an great way on how to tell a young and in fact any modern audience what happened in Australia during 18th, 19th and beginning of 20th centuries. Humanity has come a long way since then. But how do you engage audiences with these type of historical topics? Terra Nullius is the answer.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A must-read for EVERYONE

I went on not knowing anything much about this, and taking it all at face value, so the twist kinda floored me and sent me back to the beginning to listen again. A story both timeless and timely, it helps keep a light shining on events that many of us have bdrm privileged enough to not experience for ourselves.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Hard to complete this book

Not quite what I expected.

The book started well, (although the constant abrupt switching between the parallel stories was a bit confusing at the start), but then about half way through it turned weird (the futuristic science-fiction part).

If you decide to buy make sure you understand what you are getting. We are travelling in remote parts of Australia and I was after something to complement the trip, this book is not it …

I’am dropping it with 3+ hours to go. About to try my luck with “Lies Damned Lies” instead …

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Old and future worlds linked

I like how the book linked colonisations of old and future worlds. Very clever and thought provoking. How Indigenous perspective was captured was actually chilling. The narration was well done and the pace keep my interest.
Well done.
If interested in the impact and trauma of colonisation it provides some good memorable insights.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Entertaining but needed more subtlety

The story and the characters were entertaining, however the unsubtle connection between the toad invasion of Earth and the British invasion of Australia took away from the story, a more muted connection, allowing the reader to draw conclusions and links would have been more effective.

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1 person found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.