Archie Weller
Encyclopedia
Archie Weller is an Australian award winning writer of novels, short stories and screen plays.
Weller was born in Cranbrook, Western Australia
, and grew up on a farm called Woonenup in the South west of that state.
Weller states he wrote his first book, The Day of the Dog, "within a period of six weeks in a spirit of anger after his release from Broome jail for what he regarded as a wrongful conviction". It won the 1980 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
, the 1982 Prose Fiction award in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
, and was made into a film entitled Blackfellas, which won two AFI Awards
in 1993. Weller's second novel Land of the Golden Clouds was published in 1998.
The title story in the collection Going Home deals with the complexities of the Aboriginal identity in Australia. It is set in the 1980s and the protagonist has succeeded at university. He excels at sports, studies art and does paintings that are admired by the white community. But in achieving this acceptance he has turned his back on his home and his family. He feels white, but at the same time he is proud to be black. On his 21st birthday, nostalgia for his roots leads him to return to the camp of his birth, only to discover that his new "white" identity is invisible in the darkness of ignorance and prejudice. In contrast, another story in the collection, "Herbie", is about a white boy named Davey who witnesses the killing of an Aboriginal boy and though he is cruel to the boy and offers no resistance to the boys who eventually result in his death, the boy sympathises with Herbie's mother and shows remorse. In this story he portrays a boy who at the time has no empathy towards Herbie, an indigenous boy. It portrays bullying and brutal behaviour in a schoolyard with fatal consequences.
The script Confessions of a Headhunter, which Weller co-wrote with Sally Riley, won the an award in the 2001 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
, the Cinema Nova Award and the 2000 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Short Fiction Film, and the 2001 Film Critics Circle of Australia
award for Best Short Film.
His mother was a journalist and his father was a farmer. As a young child Weller was encouraged by his grandfather to write.
Weller was born in Cranbrook, Western Australia
Cranbrook, Western Australia
Cranbrook is a small town in the Great Southern region of Western Australia between Katanning, Kojonup and Mount Barker, situated 320km south of Perth. It is billed as "The Gateway to the Stirlings", referring to the nearby Stirling Range National Park...
, and grew up on a farm called Woonenup in the South west of that state.
Weller states he wrote his first book, The Day of the Dog, "within a period of six weeks in a spirit of anger after his release from Broome jail for what he regarded as a wrongful conviction". It won the 1980 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award is an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money, currently A$20,000, is the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Australia...
, the 1982 Prose Fiction award in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an award for books, scripts, digital narrative and a People's Choice. Awards are provided by the Government of Western Australia, and the awards process is managed by the State Library of Western Australia...
, and was made into a film entitled Blackfellas, which won two AFI Awards
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
in 1993. Weller's second novel Land of the Golden Clouds was published in 1998.
The title story in the collection Going Home deals with the complexities of the Aboriginal identity in Australia. It is set in the 1980s and the protagonist has succeeded at university. He excels at sports, studies art and does paintings that are admired by the white community. But in achieving this acceptance he has turned his back on his home and his family. He feels white, but at the same time he is proud to be black. On his 21st birthday, nostalgia for his roots leads him to return to the camp of his birth, only to discover that his new "white" identity is invisible in the darkness of ignorance and prejudice. In contrast, another story in the collection, "Herbie", is about a white boy named Davey who witnesses the killing of an Aboriginal boy and though he is cruel to the boy and offers no resistance to the boys who eventually result in his death, the boy sympathises with Herbie's mother and shows remorse. In this story he portrays a boy who at the time has no empathy towards Herbie, an indigenous boy. It portrays bullying and brutal behaviour in a schoolyard with fatal consequences.
The script Confessions of a Headhunter, which Weller co-wrote with Sally Riley, won the an award in the 2001 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an award for books, scripts, digital narrative and a People's Choice. Awards are provided by the Government of Western Australia, and the awards process is managed by the State Library of Western Australia...
, the Cinema Nova Award and the 2000 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Short Fiction Film, and the 2001 Film Critics Circle of Australia
Film Critics Circle of Australia
The Film Critics Circle of Australia is a group of cinema critics that judge Australian films.-External links:**...
award for Best Short Film.
His mother was a journalist and his father was a farmer. As a young child Weller was encouraged by his grandfather to write.
Novels
- Day of the Dog (Allen & UnwinAllen & UnwinAllen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house, is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. The Australian directors have been the sole owners of the Allen & Unwin name since effecting a management buy out at the time the UK parent company, Unwin Hyman, was...
, 1981) - Land Of The Golden Clouds (Allen & Unwin, 1998)
Short stories
- Going Home: Stories (Allen & Unwin, 1986)Review
- Pension Day
- Dead Dingo
- Johnny Blue
- Stolen Car
- Sandcastles
- Herbie
- fish and Chips
Drama and screenplays
- Nidjera: Children Crying Softly Together: A Play Exploring The Emotions Of A Modern Day Koori Family (1990)
- Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, with Rima Tamou (1999)
- Confessions of a Headhunter, with Sally Riley (2000)
Edited
- Us Fellas: An Anthology Of Aboriginal Writing, with Colleen Glass (Perth: Artlook, 1987)