Magabala Books

Magabala Books was born out of a traditional song and dance festival held in 1984 that was attended by Aboriginal people from across the Kimberley. Here it was decided that an organisation, firmly rooted in Aboriginal law and culture, be established—the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC). KALACC was to be run by Aboriginal leaders and one of its aims was to protect the rights of traditional storytellers and artists. To this end, Magabala Books was created.

In 1987, from the pearling town of Broome in the remote north-west of Western Australia, Magabala Books published its first book. Today we have more than twenty years’ experience in publishing Aboriginal social history, memoirs, autobiography, fiction, young adult, children’s traditional stories and children’s picture books. We are proud to be Australia’s oldest independent Indigenous publishing house.