Episode 6: Adam Thompson on muttonbirding and writing on the islands

Season 2: Lutruwita | Tasmania

Episode 6: Pakana writer Adam Thompson on muttonbirding and writing on the islands

Pakana writer Adam Thompson muttonbirding on Big Dog Island in 2017

Pakana writer Adam Thompson sources much of the inspiration for his stories from his experiences, working on the Aboriginal-owned islands in the Furneaux Group.

These islands, situated in Bass Strait between lutruwita and mainland Australia, are not only the backdrop for his dark moral tales but they also hold his family history. 

We talk about his work with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation as a builder and ranger on Badger, Mount Chappell and Big Dog islands that inspired his collection of short stories Born Into This, as well as the TV series Moonbird to be screened on the SBS channel NITV in 2025. 

In this episode we cover:

• muttonbirding on Mount Chappell Island alongside tiger snake colonies,

• Adam’s writing process where he blends fact with fiction, 

• his role as a father and storyteller, passing down cultural knowledge to his son, including stories about returning petroglyphs from the museum to their homeland, and

• hearing stories from his great-grandmother about life on the islands –– from handmade shelters, resourcefulness, and family struggles—left a lasting impact on him, inspiring him to write and document these tales.
  

Biography

Adam is a fiction author and screenwriter/producer from Launceston, Tasmania. He is co-director of the first Tasmanian Aboriginal screen production company, Kutikina Productions.

Adam worked at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for almost 20 years in various roles. He has been a ranger on Aboriginal owned and managed lands – mainly the Bass Strait Islands - and coordinated the state-wide land management program for several years. Adam has worked as a history officer, preserving community history through research, recording oral history and collecting and cataloguing community photos. He has worked on and organised various campaigns spanning land rights to ‘change the date’. In 2006, Adam was selected by his community to bring home Tasmanian Aboriginal remains from the British Museum, and to negotiate the return of more of his people from multiple institutions across the UK.

You can see Adam’s work on our Instagram page @artdestinations.podcast and @adam_thompson_author.