Always Will Be by Mykaela Saunders
“Until now, Evie had only ever seen pictures and videos of this country from the mothership’s cultural archive. Still, the stories she’d heard or read in books were far more vivid than any of the footage she’d seen. Evie’s old people were talented and attentive storytellers. A video might teach the eyes a thing or two, but a skilled local storyteller who knows a place intimately can evoke that place within another mind across vast times and spaces.”
Always Will Be: Stories of Goori Sovereignty From the Future(s) of the Tweed (2024) is the debut collection of short stories from award-winning Koori/Goori and Lebanese writer, teacher and researcher Dr Mykaela Saunders. Editor of This All Come Back Now (2022), an anthology of blackfella speculative fiction that won an Aurealis Award, Always Will Be features Saunders’ own speculative fiction stories, centring on her home, the Tweed. The collection won the David Unaipon Award in 2022 and was released earlier this month.
Ambitious and thought-provoking in scope, Always Will Be features a range of stories that tackle the idea of future sovereignty in the Tweed through various speculative fiction approaches. From climate change apocalypses to technological disruptions and off-world colonisation, Saunders has advised she wanted to write “futures outside of the dystopian-utopian binary” and that’s certainly something she’s achieved.
The collection begins with a story titled ‘Jingi Wallah’, meaning ‘wecome’, so Saunders essentially welcomes us to the place we’ll be spending our time in for the entirety of the collection. Saunders takes the time to acquaint us with her people and country and remind us of the rich histories that are too often forgotten:
“These are stories of Goori sovereignty and survivance into near and more far-flung points in time. They are not all nice and easy lifeways, but they do show Gooris doing what they always have done – loving, fishing, learning and caring for kin and country. Come see for yourself.”
Saunders then moves into a series of near-future scenarios highlighting the challenges of climate change and the innate need to return to simpler ways of living with the land.
In 'No Country for Old Women', one Goori woman has separated herself from the overdeveloped, technology-focused main city areas and enjoys a life living off-grid –until the local wildlife sends her a not-so-friendly reminder of who she’s living with. Meanwhile, stories like 'River Story' and 'Fire Bug' emphasise the importance of cultural knowledge in managing resources and finding purpose, particularly for youth:
“And Tyson’s ancestors were pleased that their knowledge was living on through their strong son, and the land was happy too, its needs fulfilled, its burning wishes listened to.”
The narratives then diverge into alternative visions of the future: from Indigenous uprisings in 'Blood and Soil' to a utopian Tweed sanctuary in 'Tweed Sanctuary Tour.' Saunders uses both these stories to create a sense of forewarning: that sovereignty for the Tweed is not without its challenges if the people are not careful.
“The young lad blushed, bowed and took his place back in the crowd, now a man that Great Uncle Jacob could be proud of, while over at the old property, the ghost of his father was turning in his grave.”
As one might expect in such an ambitious collection, some stories come together better than others. I did find some of the stories more suited to a YA audience in their approach, especially ‘Fire Bug’ and ‘The Girls Home’, which depicts a group of young girls taking on the challenge of working together to escape a detention-centre style facility, only to realise they’ve been inside an augmented reality. I’m not sure if this was an intentional approach from Saunders to give the collection a wider opportunity to be shared with a diverse readership, and while they centre on vital themes, their younger-style narrative voice did pull me out of the collection a little bit.
Later in the collection, Saunders juxtaposes these dystopian futures with contemplations of space colonisation and the erosion of Indigenous sovereignty. ‘Our Future in the Stars’ questions the repercussions of leaving a deteriorating Earth, while ‘Prodigal Return’ underscores the enduring power of cultural storytelling and explores ideas around not only where culture originates but how it transforms:
“‘But it can’t be true Bundjalung culture, can it, if you’ve just made it up?’
‘How the fuck do you think culture starts?’ piped up one young cousin.
‘You can’t learn about a culture from a few hundred years ago and expect it all to stay fixed in that time. Cultures change all the time, missy, ours included. It’s always been this way.’”
As a new(ish) resident in Australia, the concept of sovereignty is still something I’m learning about. While there are many definitions, the Uluru Statement from the Heart expresses the idea as:
‘A spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or “mother nature”, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born there, remain attached to, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors.’
Throughout the collection, Sanders emphasises the centrality of cultural connection to land and waterways, echoing the slogan 'Always was, always will be Aboriginal land'. There is something powerful about seeing and reading about your home in literature, and we often significantly underestimate the emotional importance of place being recognised in these ways.
Saunders has written a gift to Goori and First Nations communities. It’s a collection that proudly and wholeheartedly speaks to place, culture, and a hopeful future.
Read our interview with Mykaela where we chat about the role of speculative fiction in contemporary literature, what it means to write about place and home, and why winning literary prizes offers so much more than simply recognition.
Elaine Chennatt is a writer, educator and psychology student currently residing in nipaluna. She has a special interest in bibliotherapy (how we use literature to make sense of our lives) and is endlessly curious about the creative philosophies of others. She lives with her husband and two bossy dachshunds on the not-so-sunny side of the river (IYKYK). Find her online at wordswithelaine.com.
