Bruce Pascoe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bruce Pascoe
Pascoe c. 2022
Born	1947 (age 77–78) Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Writer
Alma mater	University of Melbourne (BEd)
Genre	Australian fiction, poetry
Subject	Australian Indigenous history
Notable works	Fog a Dox (2012) Dark Emu (2014)
Notable awards	List of awards Fellowship of Australian Writers Literature Award (1999) Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction (2013) The Deadlys Published book of the year (2013) New South Wales Premier's Literary Award for Book of the Year (2016) New South Wales Premier's Indigenous Writers' Prize (2016) Dreamtime Person of the Year (2018) Australia Council for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)
Spouse	? (?–1982) Lyn Harwood (1982– )
Children	2

Bruce Pascoe (born in 1947) is an Australian writer. He writes many kinds of books, including stories, non-fiction, poems, and books for children. He has also used the pen names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Pascoe identifies as an Aboriginal person. Since 2020, he has been a professor at the University of Melbourne. He teaches about Indigenous agriculture.

Pascoe is famous for his book Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? (2014). In this book, he suggests that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples traditionally farmed the land. He also argues they built permanent homes. Their old ways might help Australia with future sustainable living.

Bruce Pascoe's Early Life and School

Pascoe was born in Richmond, Victoria in 1947. He grew up in a family that did not have much money. His father was a carpenter. His mother, Gloria Pascoe, won a gold medal in lawn bowls at the 1980 Paralympics.

Bruce spent his early years on King Island. His family moved to Mornington, Victoria, when he was 10. Two years later, they moved to Fawkner, a suburb of Melbourne. He went to local schools.

Later, he attended the University of Melbourne. He first studied business. Then he changed to education. After getting his teaching degree, he taught in small towns. He taught in Bairnsdale for nine years.

Bruce Pascoe's Career and Books

While taking a break from teaching, Pascoe bought a large farm. He also sometimes worked as an abalone fisherman. In his free time, he started writing short stories, poems, and newspaper articles.

In 1982, he moved back to Melbourne. He wanted to publish a magazine of short stories. He decided to start his own publishing company. He ran Pascoe Publishing and Seaglass Books with his wife, Lyn Harwood.

From 1982 to 1998, Pascoe edited and published Australian Short Stories. This magazine shared short stories from many writers. The first issue sold almost all of its 20,000 copies.

His 1988 novel Fox is about a person looking for his Aboriginal identity. The book talks about important issues. These include land rights and blending old traditions with modern life.

Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country (2007) looks at Australian history. It uses old documents and stories. The book helps people understand Aboriginal history and identity. It encourages Australians to learn about the past respectfully.

Pascoe was in the TV show First Australians in 2008. He also worked to save the Wathaurong language. He created a dictionary for it.

His book Fog a Dox is for young adults. It won the Prime Minister's Literary Awards in 2013. Judges said it showed Indigenous culture in a gentle way.

About Dark Emu (2014)

Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? was first published in 2014. It challenges the idea that Aboriginal people before European settlement were only hunter-gatherers. Pascoe says that old records show evidence of farming. He also found proof of aquaculture (fish farming), engineering, and permanent villages.

The book won the Book of the Year award at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. Many people praised it for making research about Aboriginal economies popular. The book also led to some discussions. Some people debated Pascoe's use of historical sources.

A second edition of the book came out in 2018. A version for younger readers, Young Dark Emu: A Truer History, was published in 2019. This younger version was nominated for an award in 2020.

Some people, like Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe, wrote a book that disagreed with Dark Emu. They said Pascoe might have used sources in a way that gave a misleading view.

In 2019, it was announced that a documentary film of Dark Emu would be made for TV.

Later Work and Other Roles

In 2020, Pascoe became a professor at the University of Melbourne. He teaches about Indigenous agriculture. His role is to help people learn about and research Indigenous farming methods.

Pascoe is also a volunteer with the Country Fire Authority. He helped fight the big bushfires near Mallacoota in 2019–2020. He helped his community recover from the fires.

Bruce Pascoe's Aboriginal Identity

Pascoe says that in his early thirties, he found Aboriginal ancestors. These ancestors were from Tasmania (Palawa), the Bunurong people of Victoria, and the Yuin people of New South Wales. By age 40, he identified as Koori.

He knows he also has Cornish and European ancestors. But he feels Aboriginal. He says, "It doesn’t matter about the colour of your skin, it's about how deeply embedded you are in the culture." He explained that his family had hidden their Aboriginal background for a long time.

In his book Convincing Ground (2007), Pascoe wrote about people like him. He said that those who grew up without knowing their Aboriginality cannot fully understand the struggles Aboriginal people faced. He admits his Aboriginal ancestry is distant.

There have been discussions about Pascoe's Aboriginal identity. He believes these discussions are sometimes meant to discredit his book Dark Emu. Some Indigenous leaders support his Aboriginality. Others have questioned it. Pascoe has said that his connection is through his Tasmanian family.

Awards and Recognition

Bruce Pascoe has received many awards for his writing:

• 1999: Fellowship of Australian Writers – Australian Literature Award for Shark.
• 2013: Prime Minister's Literary Award – Young Adult Fiction for Fog a Dox.
• 2013: Deadly Awards – Published book of the year for Fog a Dox.
• 2016: NSW Premier's Literary Award for Dark Emu.
• 2016: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards – Indigenous Writers' Prize.
• 2018: Australia Council for the Arts – Lifetime Achievement Award.
• 2020: Children's Book of the Year Award, Eve Pownall Award for Information Books for Young Dark Emu.
• 2021: Australian Society of Authors – ASA Medal.

He was also nominated for Person of the Year at the National Dreamtime Awards 2018.

Bruce Pascoe's Personal Life

Bruce Pascoe lives on a 60-hectare farm called Yumburra. It is near Mallacoota in Victoria. He has two children, a daughter and a son.

He also works for his family company, Black Duck Foods. This company aims to produce Indigenous foods. These are the types of foods mentioned in his book Dark Emu. His 2024 book is called Black Duck – A Year at Yumburra.

Selected Works by Bruce Pascoe

• A Corner Full of Characters (1981)
• Night Animals (1986)
• Fox (1988)
• Ruby-eyed Coucal (1996)
• Wathaurong : Too bloody strong : Stories and life journeys of people from Wathaurong (1997)
• Shark (1999)
• Nightjar (2000)
• Earth (2001)
• Ocean (2002)
• The Little Red Yellow Black Book : An introduction to indigenous Australia (2008)
• Fog a Dox (2012)
• Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture Or Accident? (2014)
• Seahorse (2015)
• Mrs Whitlam (2016)
• Young Dark Emu: A Truer History (2019)
• Salt: Selected Stories and Essays (2019)
• Black Duck – A Year at Yumburra (2024)

He also wrote under the names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass.