
A refugiam describes a population that can survive through a period of unfavourable conditions.
And as Western Australia approaches the bicentennial year of the colony, Noongar and Yawuru writer and researcher Elfie Shiosaki is thinking about what survival has looked like.
Her latest collection of poems, titled Refugia, grapples with what might have been as it recounts Western Australia’s memories of colonial violence.
She discuss the relationship between her research and her writing, and how she’s able to shape her ideas into themes.