A brief history on Black Ink Press & its Projects

Through the nineties Jeanie Adams recognised that the wealth of Indigenous talent is often constrained by lack of confidence and lack of knowledge of the publishing industry.

1999 Driven by the need for reading materials amongst the Indigenous students at Shalom College, the UAICC (Uniting Aboriginal & Islander Christian Congress) then later Yalga-binbi Institute auspiced Jeanie Adams to run a program to find and mentor Indigenous writers and illustrators. Funds were sought unsuccessfully from charitable foundations.

2000 with a small grant from the Regional Writing Fund, the first Black Ink Saturday workshops were run, unearthing the potential of several Indigenous writers and illustrators. NATSIECC and Caritas Australia were the first supporters.

2001-2 The Black Ink Project was launched and the process of finding and supporting artists began. Funds were successfully sought from RADF, Australia Council, Arts Queensland. A small irregular newsletter was produced and sent to 300 people.

Black Ink held its first competition with entries from most states, and the resulting poems and stories formed the basis for the project's publishing program. A reference group was developed. Black Ink Press was registered as a trading name.

Through workshops and personal contact the project reached artists throughout North Queensland using Townsville as a base.

2003 Further funds from Gambling Benefit Fund allowed the purchase of high quality desktop publishing equipment. New Media Arts funds allowed the initiation of a CD Rom project to teach Indigenous languages.

The first book, Crow Feathers: an Indigenous collection of poems and images was edited and designed by local Townsville artists and launched at NAIDOC. In 2003 it won the Townsville Literature Award. In 2004 local artists Robbie Paul and Janelle Evans jointly won the National Henry Mayer Indigenous Media Prize for the book.

Black Ink has over these years developed a wide network of interest, and small focussed partnerships with Townsville City Council Libraries, Indigenous Child Care Unit, TMSG (Townsville Multi-cultural Support Group), James Cook University and some local schools. But lack of time and resources means the newsletter has been discontinued.

In March 2004 How the Cassowary got its Helmet by Trevor Fourmile and Lillian Fourmile was launched at Townsville, Ipswich and Cairns Libraries. October 2004 Molly the Grey Kangaroo and the Bush Clean-up Crew by John L Clark was launched in Victoria as John is a Koori from Geelong.

In 2005 and 2006 success in a funding application to Arts Queensland allowed a program of workshops in which successful published artists mentor new writers and illustrators in community groups or schools, as well as residencies at Black Ink to work on projects.

2005 in Townsville on the foreshore we launched My Mob Going to the Beach by Sylvia Emmerton and Jaquanna Elliott, and Biddy's Fishing Line by Bridget Priman and Robbie Paul. Sadly Sylvia died not long afterwards.

2006 in Cairns Turtle Egg day was launched by the family of the late Ruth Thompson. River Girl was launched at Koorie Heritage Trust in Melbourne and subsequently Bajirriga the Turtle, Aukam and the set of four Gudjal language books. That makes fourteen books so far.

Black Ink remains open to approach from writers and illustrators and often offers support and advice to those seeking information about publishing. Meanwhile it goes on developing the books in progress, working with illustrators to develop high quality artwork in appropriate formats.


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DOWNLOAD OUR ARCHIVED NEWSLETTERS HERE [pdf]

Early in the life of the Black Ink project, a newsletter was sent out to hundreds of interested people, with information about progress of the project. Due to lack of time, only 4 were created and that’s all. We would love to be able to keep putting newsletters out as an educational resource and a promotional tool. Meanwhile these old newsletter pdfs may be of interest to members of the public who want to know a bit about how we got started, and also how they might get started. See Newsletter 3 for hints on writing and illustrating. And one day we’ll find the resources and another edition will appear on this site. Watch this space. (NOTE there are some photos here of friends who have passed away since.) Newsletter1, April 2001 Newsletter 2, July 2001 Newsletter 3, April 2002 Newsletter 4, August 2003