British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has apologised and withdrawn a children’s book he wrote after it was criticised for causing damaging and disrespectful offence to Indigenous Australians.
Oliver is in Australia currently promoting his new cookbook, but it’s his 400-page fantasy novel that has come under fire.
Titled Billy and the Epic Escape, the Australian subplot in the book tells the story of a First Nations girl living in foster care.
She is kidnapped by a villain who says that “First Nations children seem to be more connected with nature”.
Jamie Oliver writes a fictional book featuring an Aboriginal girl character and is cancelled by Sue-Anne Hunter, a Wurundjeri and Ngurai illum Wurrung woman (pictured) because:
1. He didn’t consult with First Nations people
2. The harmful stereotyping of Indigenous peoples as having mystical powers and being “more connected with nature”” despite us constantly being told about elders’ ‘dreaming’ and ‘custodians of the land’.
3. “The particularly insensitive choice to include themes of child stealing, given the painful historical context of the Stolen Generations”
4. “The careless mixing of different Indigenous languages and cultures, demonstrating a fundamental disrespect for the distinct identities of various First Nations communities”
5. There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens.” This incident highlights the ongoing need for authentic representation and proper consultation with Indigenous communities.” Oh? Cheque or cash?
—The Road Knight
While the character is from Mparntwe, or Alice Springs, they use vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of NSW and Queensland.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation (NATSIEC) blasted the book for contributing to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences”.
After NATSIEC called for the book to be pulled from shelves, publisher Penguin Random House UK and Jamie Oliver decided to withdraw it from sale.
In a statement, Oliver said he was “devastated” to have caused offence and apologised “wholeheartedly”.
“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue,” he said.
“Together with my publishers, we have decided to withdraw the book from sale.”
Penguin Random House UK also confirmed that the book was published without consulting any Indigenous organisations or individuals.
“Our mission is to make books for everyone and with that commitment comes a deep sense of responsibility,” a spokesman for the publisher said.
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