Dirt Poor Islanders
Winnie Dunn
‘Islanders must do everything together. We painted ngatu together. We crossed the ocean together. We settled on isles together. We took up Christianity together. We entered into new citizenships together. We became wage workers together. We lived with generations upon generations stacked in fibro houses together. We became half-White together. We got nits together. We sooked together. We stayed poor together. Together. Together. Together.’
Meadow Reed used to get confused when explaining that she had grandparents from Australia, Tonga and Great Britain. She’d say she was full-White and full-Tongan, thinking that so many halves made separate wholes. Despite the Anglo-Saxon genetics that gave Meadow a narrow nose and light-brown skin, everybody who raised her was Tongan. Everybody who loved her was Tongan. This was what made her Tongan.
Growing up in the heat-hummed streets of Mt Druitt in Western Sydney, Meadow will come to face palangis who think they are better than Fobs, women who fall into other women, what it means to have many mothers, Pineapple Fanta and a playful rain.
For this half-White, half-Tongan girl, the world is bigger than the togetherness she has grown up in. Finding her way will see Meadow push against the constraints of tradition, family and self until she becomes whole in her own right. Meadow is going to see that being a dirt poor Islander girl is much more beautiful than she can even begin imagine.
Dirt Poor Islanders is a potent, mesmerising novel that opens our eyes to the brutal fractures navigated when growing up between two cultures and the importance of understanding all the
many pieces of yourself.
- Release
- Apr-2024
- ISBN
- 9780733649264
- RRP (AUD)
- $32.99
- Pages
- 304
- Format
- Paperback & ebook
- Category
- Fiction: Literary
Hachette Australia
Hachette Australia is one of Australia’s leading publishing houses. We seek out the best stories. We nurture them. Then we share them.

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