Anthony Hopkins
Belonging, A Novel
Stringybark Publishing, 2020
Matthew Tate finds a letter. It speaks of belonging and a mother he has never known. A semi-trailer and a freightless haul to the heart see him arrested and imprisoned in Alice Springs. Caged, haunted and alone, the 19-year-old is determined to find the truth.
Ben Fulton is a young, white lawyer from the city, working tenaciously for Aboriginal Legal Aid at the grinding coalface of the criminal (in)justice system in Central Australia. At the collision of Black and White, he too is searching.
Jordi Watts, a Warumungu woman, has no need to search. Walking lithely in two worlds, she runs the Aboriginal Legal Aid office in the alcohol-ravaged township of Tennant Creek. Jordi knows the beauty and pain of her people, holding both with the certainty of place.
Matthew, Ben and Jordi come together in the violence of court and the vastness of Country, alive with the vibrating energy of its people, of culture, art, tragedy and love, as the truth of Matthew’s past is revealed. From this unravelling comes possibility…
“A beautiful bridge between worlds, an urgent call for compassion, and an ode to different ways of knowing, told with love, respect and hope … Read it with an open heart and an open mind and pass it on to someone who needs it.”
About the Author
Anthony Hopkins is a white Australian who lives on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land in Canberra with his wife Kelli Cole, a Warumungu and Luritja woman from Central Australia and curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia. He is the proud father of three sons who stand tall on the land of their ancestors.
Anthony is an Associate Professor and the Director of Clinical and Internship Courses at the ANU College of Law, as well as a practising criminal defence barrister. He is an award-winning teacher who teaches criminal law, evidence law and clinical courses in the ACT prison and with the Aboriginal Legal Service. Anthony’s research is focused on colonialism, inequality and marginalisation, as they shape, intersect with and are compounded by the criminal justice system. This work begins with recognising the importance of listening to the experiences of those caught in that system. His journey of listening began at the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service in Alice Springs in 1997, as a law student intern, where he met Kelli, then working as an Aboriginal Field Officer, and was welcomed into her family. The journey continues and is supported by a mindfulness and compassion meditation practice.
