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Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Gulpilil single work   biography   interview  
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Gulpilil
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

''David is a gateway to a history that we've so far denied and not embraced. In this country, he's more important than Ned Kelly.'

'It's been almost fifty years since a teenage David Gulpilil illuminated screens worldwide with his breakout role in Walkabout. It was the one of the first times we'd seen an Aboriginal person cast in a significant role and only four years after Holt's referendum to alter the constitution and give Indigenous people citizenship and, subsequently, the right to vote.

'Gulpilil quickly became the face of the Indigenous world to white Australian audiences. Charisma. Good looks. A competent, strong, mysterious man starring in films ranging from Crocodile Dundee to Rabbit-Proof Fence.

'But what has marked Gulpilil, despite his fame and popularity, is the feeling that he's been forever stuck between two worlds: a Yolngu man, a hunter, a tracker, who grew up in the bush in Arnhem Land outside any white influence; and a movie star flitting from sets to festivals.

'Able to exist in both worlds, but never truly home.

'From the author of the bestselling Wednesdays with Bob, Derek Rielly builds a narrative around his attempt to encapsulate the most beguiling and unconventional of Australian entertainers, observing Gulpilil's own attempt to find a place in the world. With interviews from notable icons and friends - such as Jack Thompson, Paul Hogan, Phillip Noyce, Craig Ruddy, George Gittoes, Gary Sweet and Damon Gameau - this book unriddles a famous enigma at last.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Pan Macmillan Australia , 2019 .
      image of person or book cover 1367511111942457334.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 256p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 24 September 2019
      ISBN: 9781760784973 (hbk), 9781760788544 (ebook)

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

Derek Rielly : Gulpilil Bernard Whimpress , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2020;

— Review of Gulpilil Derek Rielly , 2019 single work biography interview

'Derek Rielly’s biography of actor David Gulpilil is a moving testament to a man who has left a unique imprint on Australia’s cultural life for the last half-century.'

Two Worlds Stephen Bennetts , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January / February no. 418 2020; (p. 27)

— Review of Gulpilil Derek Rielly , 2019 single work biography interview

'Australians have admired distinguished actor David Gulpilil in films like Walkabout (1971), Storm Boy (1976), The Tracker (2002), and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002). Not so many will be familiar with the details of his recent life, as related by journalist Derek Rielly. We find Gulpilil dying of lung cancer in Murray Bridge, an unprepossessing town on the lower Murray River in South Australia. He is surrounded by friends and cared for by the heroic Mary Hood, a retired nurse who has dedicated much of her life to caring for Aboriginal people in the Top End. This follows several bleak years living as a ‘long grasser’ on the fringes of Darwin and doing time in Berrimah Prison on charges of serious assault during a drunken fight.' (Introduction)

Pinch on the Soul Ashleigh Wilson , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 October 2019; (p. 18)

— Review of Gulpilil Derek Rielly , 2019 single work biography interview ; Jack Charles : Born-Again Blakfella Jack Charles , Namila Benson , 2019 single work autobiography

Ashleigh Wilson reflects 'on the lives and careers of David Gulpilil and Jack Charles, two widely admired and indigenous artists with boundless talent and charisma. Both actors, each man is the subject of two expansive new books of nonfiction. And while they come from different worlds, each has spent years struggling, in their own way, with problems of identity.' (Introduction)

Pinch on the Soul Ashleigh Wilson , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5 October 2019; (p. 18)

— Review of Gulpilil Derek Rielly , 2019 single work biography interview ; Jack Charles : Born-Again Blakfella Jack Charles , Namila Benson , 2019 single work autobiography

Ashleigh Wilson reflects 'on the lives and careers of David Gulpilil and Jack Charles, two widely admired and indigenous artists with boundless talent and charisma. Both actors, each man is the subject of two expansive new books of nonfiction. And while they come from different worlds, each has spent years struggling, in their own way, with problems of identity.' (Introduction)

Two Worlds Stephen Bennetts , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January / February no. 418 2020; (p. 27)

— Review of Gulpilil Derek Rielly , 2019 single work biography interview

'Australians have admired distinguished actor David Gulpilil in films like Walkabout (1971), Storm Boy (1976), The Tracker (2002), and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002). Not so many will be familiar with the details of his recent life, as related by journalist Derek Rielly. We find Gulpilil dying of lung cancer in Murray Bridge, an unprepossessing town on the lower Murray River in South Australia. He is surrounded by friends and cared for by the heroic Mary Hood, a retired nurse who has dedicated much of her life to caring for Aboriginal people in the Top End. This follows several bleak years living as a ‘long grasser’ on the fringes of Darwin and doing time in Berrimah Prison on charges of serious assault during a drunken fight.' (Introduction)

Derek Rielly : Gulpilil Bernard Whimpress , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2020;

— Review of Gulpilil Derek Rielly , 2019 single work biography interview

'Derek Rielly’s biography of actor David Gulpilil is a moving testament to a man who has left a unique imprint on Australia’s cultural life for the last half-century.'

Last amended 15 Jul 2020 10:13:37
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