Don Watson: The Passion of Private White

Don Watson’s bestselling titles include Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM, Death Sentence and The Bush. An accomplished author, speechwriter and screenwriter, he is one of Australia’s most beloved intellectual giants.

Now Watson returns with The Passion of Private White, a book fifty years in the making, offering a complex portrait of anthropologist Neville White and his relationship with the Yolngu clans at Donydji in north-east Arnhem Land.

Over five decades, White mapped the culture and history of the Yolngu people. But eventually, presence meant involvement. As White became an advocate against the outside forces that threatened the clan, the community at Donydji began to interact with White’s old platoon of soldiers suffering psychic wounds from the Vietnam War.

For this Melbourne City Reads event, Watson joins host Sally Warhaft to discuss his own fifty-year relationship with Neville White and the process of crafting The Passion of Private White, an intricate study of colonisation, suffering, resilience and humanity.

The Melbourne City Reads series is generously supported by George and Rosa Morstyn.

The bookseller for this event is Hill of Content Bookshop.

Celebrate local literary culture and the authors who shape it. Rediscover the world through writers’ eyes at monthly events, featuring authors discussing their new books.