Richard Fidler

Makes it a bit tricky for me here as the journalist asking you questions, Melissa.

The mutual obligations and connections in Goori culture between humans and animals and between humans are beautifully drawn and contrasted, sometimes comically, sometimes tragically, with the way of life of these new arrivals.

For instance, there's one night where Mullanyin goes to cross the river, but the Kirilpur canoe that should be there has been stolen.

And he thinks, you know, he can't even leave a canoe by the riverbank anymore because some white fella's just going to nick it.

Nita and Malinian are fictional characters, but in the novel their lives are intertwined with this historical family, the Petrie family, who come from Scotland to Moreton Bay.

How did you first discover the story of Tom Petrie?

How did he understand that?

What kind of connections did he have with local people, local landowners here?

And did Tom Petrie stay a kind of loyal friend to First Nations people over that course of his life?

What did you learn about the kind of place that Brisbane was in the 1850s?

As white settlement was moving north in this period, Aboriginal people had been fighting to defend their lands.

Tell me about Dundalee.

What happened to him in 1855 in the middle of Brisbane?

Dundalee was the last person publicly executed in Queensland.

I grew up here, never heard of him.

My sense is that white Australia is maybe caught up with that concept, but the extent of violence that was on the frontier is something that is still not really filtered through more widely.

Eden Glassie swaps, as I mentioned, between these two time periods, between the mid-19th century and now.

Is that kind of how you walk through the world, Melissa, that sort of double historical view?

This is your seventh book, Eden Glassie.

Give me a sense about what was going on in your own life as you were writing this book.