Debra Dank on family, culture, connection and the power of memory in 'Ankami'

From Good Reading Podcast by Good Reading Magazine

January 14, 2026 · 37 min

About this episode

Debra Dank discusses her journey to uncover her family's history and the cultural implications of her findings in 'Ankami'.

Debra Dank had long been desperate to paint a fuller picture of her family, to add flesh to the name-bones and the few precious stories she possessed. Debra had been aware of her father's five siblings, some of whom had died before she could come to know them, but there were always whispers and gaps and silences. Her parents had experiences that affected how Debra grew up, but hers seemed to be one of the very few Aboriginal families who had escaped having children stolen, who had viewed this horror from a seemingly safer distance. What Debra discovered would shatter everything she thought she knew about her family and her past. The information she uncovered revealed that her paternal grandmother had given birth to ten children. Four had been taken from her. Ankami is written from the perspective of those left behind, those who search always for the faces of stolen and lost Aboriginal children, now known only through a few cruel, thoughtless words written by a violent pastoral manager and a paternalistic colonial administrator, a footnote in a yellowed letter. In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Debra Dank about the culture of silence she faced in uncovering her family…

People in this episode

Host: Gregory Dobbs

Guest: Debra Dank

Topics covered

family history
Aboriginal culture
memory
cultural silence
identity
colonial impact

Keywords

family
Aboriginal
memory
cultural silence
identity
colonialism
Ankami

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Ankami