1. Country
2. Culture
3. Dreaming
4. Gudanji people C26
5. Identity
6. Indigenous knowledge
7. Songlines
8. Stolen generations
9. Storytelling
10. Wakaya people C16
11. Water

The author, Gudanji/Wakaja woman Rhyia Dank has created an engaging first-person narrative, shared her own family story and reflected on First Nations Culture and history.

Knowledge is shared and learned through storytelling not in books but through ceremony, rock carvings, sand drawing, cave painting and body artwork. These stories live in the land and make it sacred and are part of the author’s identity and connection to family and Country.

Water is important to the Gudanji people as part of their Dreaming stories and is an intrinsic part of the book’s vibrant artwork with an image of a river weaving its way through the pages from the front cover. Within the river artwork are references, both contemporary and historical, to various aspects of her people’s story such as the impact of colonisation and the devastation of the Stolen Generations on families.

The continuing river image shows the ongoing strength and resilience of the connection to Country and its importance. Learning lessons on Country and how they are contained in songlines – maps that explain how and where we are and that they hold our laws. This connects us to the ancestors and gives the knowledge of how to live respectfully and sustainably and look after Country now and in the future.

Ryhia Dank is a Gudanji/Wakaja woman form the Barkly Tablelands in the Northern Territory. She got to know her Country through stories her family told and walking in the places and footprints her family travelled for thousands of years. She describes her painting as ‘storywork’ which tells stories through pattern and design.

1. Teachers’ Hub. Q&A with Ryhia Dank author of ’My Story, Our Country’ https://assets.teachershub.com.au/715afc9c6aad4ba89e79008ed990242d.pdf
2. Reading Time 23 Dec 2025. Margot Hillel reviews ‘My Story, Our Country’ by Ryhia Dank https://readingtime.cbca.org.au/my-story-our-country-a-first-nations-family-history/
3. Just So Stories 9 Nov 2025. Sue Warren reviews ‘My Story, Our Country’ by Ryhia Dank https://losangzopa.blog/2025/11/09/my-story-our-country-ryhia-dank/
4. ReadPlus 26 Jan 2026. Kathryn Beilby reviews ‘My Story, Our Country’ by Ryhia Dank https://www.readplus.com.au/reviews/my-story-our-country
5. Ryhia Dank website ‘About Me’ https://nardurna.com/pages/about-ryhia?