Summary

"If Australia were a child, she would be traumatised by a past that she is told to forget. She has witnessed her custodians being murdered and raped, scattered to the margins of society. She suffers for what she has seen. She cannot forget. Her heart beat is fading." – Thomas Mayor, 2019

On 26 May 2017, a historic moment at Uluru gave this country hope. Those custodians came together, reached into their own hearts, and gifted us with a roadmap to find the heart of the nation – The Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Finding the Heart of the Nation is a book that helps you feel the pulse of this country. It is full of stories about extraordinary people who will take you on an unforgettable journey to a place where we can start a new beginning. This book is a call to action that you will never forget.

Since the Uluru Statement from the Heart was formed in 2017, Thomas Mayor has traveled around the country to promote its vision of a better future for Aboriginal people. He’s visited communities big and small, often with the Uluru Statement canvas rolled up in a tube under his arm.

Through the story of his own journey and interviews with 20 key people, Thomas taps into a deep sense of our shared humanity. The voices within these chapters make clear what the Uluru Statement is and why it is so important. Thomas believes that we will only find the heart of our nation when the First peoples – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – are recognised with a representative Voice enshrined in the Australian Constitution.

About the Author

Thomas Mayor is a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin. As an Islander growing up on the mainland, he learned to hunt traditional foods with his father and to island dance from the Darwin community of Torres Strait Islanders. In high school, Thomas's English teacher suggested he should become a writer. He didn't think then that he would become one of the first ever Torres Strait Islander authors to have a book published for the general trade. Instead, he became a wharf labourer from the age of seventeen, until he became a union official for the Maritime Union of Australia in his early thirties.