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Marlo Morgan - Mutant Message Down Under: Timeline

  1. 1990
     

    The first book

    M. Morgan self-publishes the book for the first time. The title is presumably "Walkabout Woman: Messenger for a Vanishing Tribe" [22,23,24]. The book supposedly has sold 37,000 copies [1,3].

    To emphasize support by Aboriginal people Morgan includes a statement by a Yorta Yorta Aboriginal man called Burnum Burnum, described as an activist, actor, author and dreamer. He later retracts in a letter in which he states, "I am a non-initiated, non-traditional, urbanised, Aboriginal from the East Coast of Australia".

  2. 1992
     

    No republication—First doubts on author's claims

    Stillpoint Publishing of Walpole, N.H., decided not to republish the book when they could not verify the author's claims of having doctorates in biochemistry and oriental medicine, nor her itinerary in Australia, or anything else she claims [1]. The last publication by this publisher was presumably in August 1992 [24].

    Stillpoint focuses "on creating books that speak to the very frontiers of spiritual discovery". This publisher put Morgan's book into the New Age category.

  3. 1993
     

    Lectures and speeches

    Morgan travels through the United States giving speeches about her book. A rare description of such a promotional evening exists on Native Net [21].

  4. 1994
     

    The hardcover version—Opposition starts

    28 August: Harper Collins Publishers releases a hardcover edition [1]. A US journalist who has read the press kit "smells a fake" [1] and asks for more information.

    It is the second edition of the book, which Harper bid $1.7 million to republish [1,2]. Morgan has written a revised introduction to "protect the small band of Aboriginals from legal involvement" [2].

    The New Age Journal (July/August 1994) reports a growing number of problems with the book [2] and the authors of this article report critical voices such as "rubbish" (Australian journalist Paul Whittaker) and filled "cover to cover" with "fantasies, misinformation, and distortion" (Aboriginal activist Bobby MacLeod) [1].

    Burnum Burnum's support seems not to be very trustworthy as he "has been associated with a number of 'new age' style enterprises which would not meet the normal criteria of rigorous scholarship" [3].

    28 September: Morgan claims that "none of it is made up" in a critical interview with "The KUNM Evening Report" with Catalina Reyes [17].

    December: Morgan says in the interview [17] that she's going back to Australia in December "to be on a panel with Aboriginal people to face these people that - the white people - who believe that I'm a racist. And to try and solve all of this thing." It is not known whether she actually went.

    The Common Ground online magazine publishes an interview with Marlo Morgan in its Winter 1994 edition which makes no mention of the controversy (because it is a New Age magazine?) [19].

  5. 1995
     

    Dumbartung organises Aboriginal resistance

    Newspaper article: 'Aborigines Want Bestseller Ban'. [4] Nyoongar elders and Dumbartung want to ban the book. Large version (117kb).

    29 March: Aboriginal elders and heads of Aboriginal organisations meet, condemn the book as a hoax and call for it to be withdrawn from sale [4, 28]. Meetings extend well into May.

    The group around Robert Eggington, head of the Perth-based Dumbartung Aboriginal Organisation, has prepared a 90-page document setting out its objections [11].

    Newspaper article: 'Another story grows in the telling: Fightback: Aborigines take on an American bestselling author'. [11] A good article summing up the events prior to the apology. Large version (162kB).

    21 April: Dr John Stanton, from the University of Western Australia's Berndt Museum of Anthropology, concludes in an expert assessment commissioned by Dumbartung that Morgan's book seriously insults the religious beliefs of desert Aboriginals [11]. The report has been published on the Dumbartung homepage [12].

    In the same month the Magical Blend Magazine publishes an interview with Marlo Morgan, but this interviewer, too, though acknowledging that there is a controversy going on, skirts around it [18]. Is it because this is a New Age magazine?

  6. 1996
     

    Morgan apologises to the Aboriginals—Book support retracted

    Newspaper article: 'Mutant Author says she's sorry'. [10] Morgan apologises to the Aborigines. Large version (56kB).

    26 January: A delegation of 8 Aboriginal Elders leave for the United States to defend their religion and culture and to block the move by Hollywood executives at United Artists to turn Marlo Morgan's claims into a major motion picture [9, 26]. Morgan sold the film rights for U$1.8 million [11].

    31 January: The elders receive an apology. "Morgan admitted for the first time to the eight elders that her work was fiction and a fabrication" [5, 26].

    Newspaper article: 'Elders receive apology'. [6] Morgan admits her work is fiction. Large version (62kB).

    I would like to say that I'm terribly sorry and my sincere, my sincere apologies to any Australian Aboriginal person if I have offended them in any way. —M. Morgan in her apology [10]

    Dr. John Stanton (Berndt Museum of Anthropology, WA) "said the book contained misleading and damaging information about Aboriginal people" [5]. He was not sure, he said, "whether the damage the book had done to the overseas image of Aboriginal culture, which was complex, diverse and vibrant, could be ever undone." Morgan promised a written apology, which she actually never produced [6].

    4 March: Burnum Burnum retracts support for Marlo Morgan [7] in a letter to the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation [8].

  7. 1997
     

    Aborigines protest during lectures in Japan

    Newspaper article: 'Destroy Books: Black Group'. [14] Morgan is one of three authors Dumbartung wants to see banned. Large version (107kB).

    25 March: Eggington calls for "Mutant Message" and the books of two other authors to be taken from all Australian bookshelves and destroyed [14].

    7 April: Dumbartung coordinates protest against Morgan's lectures in Japan. Eggington and a Bardi Elder travel there, give press conferences and appear painted and with didgeridoo and boomerangs at two venues. Morgan comments that "they represent all that is bad, and I represent all that is good". Eggington and the elders leave Japan on April 21st [26].

    18 August: Burnum Burnum dies [8].

    In this year another interview is published in the Golden Age (New Age magazine). Lorraine Mafi Williams, "a traditional teacher and custodian of Aboriginal culture and wisdom" talks about whether the journey was authentic and how the Aboriginal community reacted: "I honestly don't think this woman ever took a walk with anyone except perhaps as a tourist on a tour into the outback." [20]

  8. 1998
     

    Morgan publishes a second book

    3 July: Harper Collins publish "Message From Forever, A Novel of Aboriginal Wisdom", by Morgan, which she claims "is really written by Aboriginal friends telling me to please do this".

    October: phenomeNEWS conducts an interview with Marlo Morgan [16] in which she claims to "have gone back periodically" to the tribe she claimed to have travelled with in the first book. Despite all the uproar there has already been up to that time, phenomeNEWS claim they "were unaware of the controversy surrounding Ms. Morgan and her book" when they did the interview.

  9. 1999
     

    Aboriginals outraged again

    Newspaper article: 'Disgraced author offends again'. [13] Writing for dollars without paying respect? Large version (126kB).

    January: Morgan seems not to have learned from the experiences with "Mutant Message". Her new book again outrages the Aboriginals in Australia. Morgan describes a woman giving birth, but "that is private women's business. For someone to (describe a birth) is insulting and offending to people and their cultural beliefs," says Ms Jo Willmot, chairwoman of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta board of management [13].

    May: Film producer Michael Taylor (together with Barbara Boyle) is said to have "entered into agreements for the production of 'Messenger', based on the best seller Mutant Message Down Under" [15]. The production company seems to be nextwavefilms.com, however, to-date the movie was never begun.

  10. 2001
     

    Morgan a ghostwriter?

    "Rocket" (apparently a radical mag) reveals "that the author of Pauline Hanson The Truth is none other than Marlo Morgan". Her intention should have been to "hit back" against the discreditation of her book [25].

Do you know about another detail? Contact me to update this timeline.

References and external links

[1] Catalina Reyes Article on Native Net, August 1994
[2] NHNE News Brief 1 October 1994
[3] Dr Richard Howitt Article on Native Net, August 1994
[4] Aboriginals want best-seller ban The West Australian, April 1st, 1995
[5] Elders receive apology, Nativel-L list (and The West Australian, January 31st, 1996).
[6] Gary S. Trujillo Article on Native Net, March 1996
[7] Burnum Burnum retracts support Article in WHO Magazine, March 1996
[8] Burnum Burnum's letter Dumbartung site, and Burnum Burnum.
[9] "Australian Aboriginal Elders in US to protest movie deal" Article in newsgroup alt.native, February 1996
[10] Mutant Author Says She's Sorry, The Weekend Australian, January 27-28, 1996
[11] Fightback: Aboriginals Take on an American Bestselling Author Over Her Mutant Message, The Bulletin September 26, 1995
[12] An Anthropologist's Perspective Dumbartung site, April 1995
[13] Disgraced Author Offends Again, The Age, January 6th, 1999
[14] Destroy Books: Black Group, Sydney Morning Herald, March 25, 1997
[15] "INSTINCT" production information, search for "Morgan"
[16] phenomeNEWS interview with Marlo Morgan, October 1998 (archived version available - please ask)
[17] Interview with Marlo Morgan, The KUNM Evening Report, September 28, 1994
[18] Marlo Morgan interview, Magical Blend Magazine, April 1995
[19] "The Legacy of an Ancient Race", Common Ground Magazine, Winter 1994
[20] Interview with an Aboriginal Woman, Golden Age, 1997
[21] Message from the Aboriginals Article on Native Net, July 1993
[22] Walkabout Woman: Messenger for the Vanishing Tribe on Amazon
[23] Marlo Morgan's books on LeufBookLists
[24] Walkabout Woman:Messenger for a Vanishing Tribe on BookHQ
[25] 'The Truth' in Rocket magazine, 2001
[26] Dumbartung Japan Report, April 1997
[27] Dumbartung USA Report, January 1996
[28] Dumbartung Campaign Report, March 1995

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