|
Fremantle - Margo O’Byrne, author of Left Unsaid, welcome to her Website. She lives with Eitan Friedman her husband in Fremantle, Western Australia. She works as a consultant facilitator, is a contributing author to Community Voices published by UWA Press, Australia (2006) and for many years edited Ecoplan News (Department of Environmental Protection).Update January 2011 Print run sold out! Limited copies of Left Unsaid are available from selected bookshops and this web site. To secure your copy, press the buy button now.
Stop press!! Thursday 6 January 2011 Radio National Life Matters_ Summer Series has a repeat of the interview with Margo and Micko that was first aired in January 2010. ABC Radio National, Life Matters Program with Richard Aedy. Listen to that interview online, at any time: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2010/2800805.htm Or download: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2010/01/lms_20100127_0934.mp3
Past Matters (Left Unsaid) Seminar Hosted by the Nillumbik Reconciliation Group and the ELTHAM Bookshop May 21 and 22. Read More Margo will presented a session on her book Left Unsaid on Saturday 22 May 2010 at 12.45 Chair for the session is Philip John Morrissey, Academic Coordinator, Australian Indigenous Studies, University of Melbourne. Bookings (03) 9439 8700 or ELTHAM bookshop@bigpond.com For the Seminar Program link http://home.vicnet.net.au/~nrgp/index_files/PM2010.pdf
The Book… We hear the voice of a girl telling a story through an adult many years later. She and her brother are in court. What happened to her father? Why is her mother so troubled? This memoir is about the growing up years of Margo and Micko O’Byrne. Their childhood story wasn’t told; it was hidden and lied about. When their mother disappeared, they delved into their past and transformed it from a confused knot of shadows and secrets into one they could accept.
Commended Best Creative Non-Fiction, Australasian IP Picks 2009 ‘Told with compassion and humor, this story is a refined perspective of childhood suffering and endurance, wrapped in strong themes of alcoholism, poverty, neglect and abuse. It gives a searing account of the systems and authorities of the 1960s. This book is an act of resilience in and of itself.’ Reviews, comments and photos Extracted: http://uwrf.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/uwrf-2009-wednesday-day-1/ 2009 October 8 by uwrf |
|
To Buy Now Press Below
Margo O’Byrne / Left Unsaid
Price $27.95 AUD Postage in Australia $5.00 AUD |
|
Author of
|
|
Some Fremantle Launch photos |
|
|
|
Brisbane, Avid Reader Bookshop , West End , - 6 November 2009 A moving launch, attended by 150 people in the Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane’s West End Ross Watson acknowledged the indigenous elders and talked about Margo and Micko’s early involvement in social justice in Brisbane. Our good friend and MC for the event, Tim Quinn welcomed people warmly and introduced the Premier. Anna Bligh, clearly moved by the book, praised the quality of Margo’s writing, her sensitivity in telling this story and her extraordinary ability for forgiveness and compassion. The Premier spoke of the important contribution this book makes to Australia’s social history, telling a powerful and evocative story of neglect while evoking lively images of Brisbane in the 1960s as well as the idiosyncrasies of a Catholic childhood. Anna Bligh quoted several passages from the book and heartedly recommended it to the audience. Sue sang “There But For Fortune Go You And I’ and the Dylan’s song Forever Young
The large crowd was treated to a night to remember but not before many came for a party with Falafel and pizza at Tim and Bronwyn house |
|
Melbourne - Readings Bookshop, Carlton - 11 November 2009 A soft and beautiful launch in the Readings Book shop in Carlton Percy Rogers MC’d the event. Arnold Zable, spoke with passion, reminding us of the power of transcendence when we face adversity, as Margo and Micko did in this story, with the help of art , literature, theatre and dance and the support one another. Arnold was generous in his praise for the book and commended it to all present. Lucy Wise played the fiddle. Thanks to Chris Gordon and the staff at Readings and to Percy and Roz Rogers for the party and Eitan (once again) for delicious Middle Eastern food.
|
|
Canberra— Apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull— 16 November 2009 When the date of the National apology was announced, Margo and Eitan headed for Canberra. More than 900 people gathered in the Great Hall of Parliament House and the excitement rose to a spontaneous outpouring of emotion as the PM and his party entered. Calls of “Thank you Kevin” were heard everywhere and many people ran to embrace the PM. The apology was delivered with dignity, sensitivity and respect by the PM, the Leader of the Opposition and later in the chambers by representatives of all political parties. There was fitting acknowledgement of those who had worked for years to bring about this apology. It was a day of tears, joy, reconciliation, outpouring of emotion and finally justice for those of us impacted by spending our childhood in ‘care’. Margo’s book was quoted from, and her story highlighted in the Senate speech delivered by Senator Rachel Siewert (watch on youtube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jho8WAg0kcs
and in the House of Representatives speech delivered by Melissa Parke MP Federal Member for Fremantle . http://www.melissaparke.com.au/Speeches/house-debates-national-apology-to-the-forgotten-australians-and-former-child-migrants-161109.html Margaret or ‘Margo' O'Byrne, who is here in parliament today with her husband, Eitan, has also written a book called Left Unsaid, recently launched by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, which documents her and her brother Michael's experiences in Queensland institutions after they were taken from their mother. The flawed nature of the system under which children were institutionalised was highlighted in the Brisbane Children's Court decision in which the judge found Ms O'Byrne, then aged 12, and her brother, aged 11, guilty of the charge of being neglected children. -What a day!
|
|
Margo and Senator Rachel Siewert -
|
|
Great Hall, Parliament House Canberra |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fremantle, Kidogo Arthouse, Bather’s Beach - 16 October 2009 The Fremantle launch was a huge event. More than four hundred people were treated to a marvellous evening opened by master storyteller, Noel Nannup who created a powerful atmosphere connecting people to place and the spirit of the land. Member for Fremantle, Adele Carles read from Left Unsaid and spoke about the loss of connection to a loving mother. She compared Margo’s stark childhood to the vibrant lives of her own children. Musicians, Scott and Louisa Wise travelled from Margaret River and were joined by Gary Burke, David Deeley, Bill Rogers (Zydecats) from Perth and Alan Pigram (Pigram Brothers) from Broome. Scott lifted the roof with his powerful rendition of Only Freedom Calling. It was a night of entertainment and emotions and Joanna Robertson and her staff at Kidogo thought the craic was mighty! |
|
Ubud Writers and Readers Festival |
|
Arnold Zable launched on the opening day |