Listening to Country

Ros Moriarty is a white woman married to an Aboriginal man. Over the course of many visits to her husband’s family, she was fascinated to discover that the older tribal women had a deep sense of happiness and purpose that transcended the abject material poverty, illness and increasing violence of their community – a happiness that she feels is related to an essential ‘warmth of heart’ that these women say has gone missing in today’s world. In May 2006, she had the chance to spend time in the Tanami Desert in northern central Australia with 200 Aboriginal women, performing women’s Law ceremonies. Listening to Country is the story of that trip and her friendship with these women, as she tells their stories and passes on their wisdom and understanding. Offering a privileged window into the spiritual and emotional world of Aboriginal women, this book is a moving story of common human experience, the getting and passing on of wisdom, and the deep friendship and bonds between women. It carries a moving and profound sense of optimism in the fundamental humanity we all share.

Author Biography

Ros Moriarty, formerly a journalist with Radio Australia in Indigenous affairs, women’s issues and the environment, has now spent most of her professional life as managing director of Australia’s leading Indigenous design studio, Balarinji, a business she established with her husband, John Moriarty, in 1983. Listening to Country is her much-acclaimed first book.