AustLit

'How much do we know about Gypsy – or Roma – peoples in Australia and the making of a specifically Roma Australian culture? It turns out, very little before Mandy Sayer’s Australian Gypsies: Their Secret History which offers a unique insight into an uncharted area of Australian social and cultural history. An intriguing example of how history can be approached by an historically inquisitive non-academic writer, Sayer brings previously untold stories to the page in an affecting and sincere way. In her mission to uncover the lived experience of Roma in Australia she introduces us to an underexamined historical topic that engages with both Australian and Romani histories. Her contribution sets out to ‘discover the true history of the Gypsies’ and to address how and why they were marginalised by Australian mainstream society (x). The book attempts to break down remarkably durable stereotypes, populate the historical imagination with significant Roma individuals, families, and communities, and give voice to a self-identifying Romani Australian population. The book will interest informed specialists – including Australian folklorists, migration historians, oral historians, and memory studies scholars – as well as the broader public.'  (Introduction)