Archie Weller facts for kids

Archie Weller (born 1957) is an Australian writer. He writes exciting novels, short stories, and scripts for movies.

His Early Life and School

Archie Weller was born in 1957 in Subiaco, Western Australia. He grew up on a farm called Wonnenup. This farm was near Cranbrook in the Great Southern part of Western Australia.

He went to Guildford Grammar School in Perth. He lived there as a boarder. His mother was a journalist, and his father was a farmer. When Archie was a young child, his grandfather encouraged him to write stories.

Becoming a Writer

Weller's first book was called The Day of the Dog. He wrote this book very quickly. He said he wrote it "in a spirit of anger" after a difficult experience. He felt he had been treated unfairly.

His second novel was a fantasy novel. It was named Land of the Golden Clouds. This book was published in 1998.

The Story "Going Home"

The story "Going Home" is the main story in a collection of his short stories. This story talks about how complicated it can be to have an Aboriginal identity in Australia. The story is set in the 1980s.

The main character has done very well at university. He is great at sports. He also studies art and paints pictures that white people admire. But to achieve this success, he has moved away from his family and home. He feels like he fits in with white people. At the same time, he is proud to be Black.

On his 21st birthday, he misses his roots. He decides to go back to the camp where he was born. But there, he finds that his new "white" identity doesn't matter. He faces a lack of understanding and unfair ideas. Another story in the collection is "Herbie." It is about a white boy named Davey. He sees an Aboriginal boy get hurt. Davey is not kind to the boy and does not stop the others. But he feels sad for the boy's mother and shows he is sorry.

Awards and Film Adaptations

The Day of the Dog won an important award in 1980. This was The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. In 1982, it won the first Prose Fiction award. This was part of the Western Australia Week Literary Awards. Today, these are called the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards.

In 1983, Weller received another special award. It was the FAW Patricia Weickhardt Award to an Aboriginal Writer.

In 1993, The Day of the Dog was made into a movie. The film was called Blackfellas. James Ricketson directed it. Weller helped write the script with the director. The movie won two AFI Awards in 1993.

Archie Weller also co-wrote a script called Confessions of a Headhunter. He wrote it with Sally Riley. This script won several awards. It won an award in the 2001 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. It also won the Cinema Nova Award. In 2000, it won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Short Fiction Film. In 2001, it won the Film Critics Circle of Australia award for Best Short Film.