Karlie Noon

This is an important book. Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli are engaging authors with a refreshing depth of knowledge. It is important because non-Indigenous Australians have for too long overlooked the interconnection of land and sky. I had no idea that the Dark Emu moved in sync with the land emu or that variations on this constellation were culturally significant to so many Indigenous peoples. Similarly, with the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades.

Close to home, the corruptly approved Narrabri Coal Seam Gas (CSG) extraction project by Santos in the Pilliga gets a justified serve; not just because of how it will cause massive light pollution (flaring) and destroy 300 cultural sites but because it is causing widespread ecological harm.
This is not just a polemic about the need for dark skies. It is a book full of examples of how Indigenous knowledge of the night sky is an important resource that can help repair the earth. It looks towards the possibility of a better future where space junk has been removed, the night sky is visible again and interplanetary pioneers take a lighter, more informed approach to space exploitation.

That Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli begin this book with their own stories is a humbling reminder of the privileges so many non-Indigenous unconsciously (ignorantly) enjoy.
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