Anaditj – by Aunty Rev Dr Denise Champion

Anaditj is a call to all of us — Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike — to “hear the echoes of the ancient wisdom of Creator through stories of the First Peoples of these lands now called Australia,” 

Aunty Rev Dr Denise Champion’s book is a blend of wonderful Adnyamathanha story-telling and wisdom, a call for fresh thinking from this Adnyamathanha Theologian, and a call for justice for First Nations Peoples within the Church and the nation.

Aunty Denise Champion is a proud Adnyamathanha woman from the Finders Ranges in South Australia, and the Theologian in Residence at Uniting College in Adelaide. In her new book, Anaditj, Aunty Denise speaks of a life principle for Adnyamathanha Peoples, ‘a state of being’.

A literal English translation of the meaning of Anaditj is ‘the way things are’, however as Aunty unpacks this the reader will discover far deeper and profound meanings. Speaking of the “dark spaces between the stars”, Aunty describes “Dark Emu”, from which Bruce Pascoe took the title of his book about the way First Nations Peoples cared for the land, cultivated it and harvested it; Adnyamathanha Peoples look at the night sky and see the dark spaces between the constellations.

Read a review of “Anaditj” – “The way things are” here. Copies of “Anaditj” are available for $25 + $2.50 postage. Click here to download the order form and arrange payment, and send to Bev Freeman at bfreeman@sa.uca.org.au