SYDNEY — Clare Wright won Book of the Year at the NSW Literary Awards for her nonfiction work Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions at a ceremony held at the NSW State Library in Sydney. The book also took the $40,000 Douglas Stewart Prize for nonfiction, bringing Wright's total winnings to $50,000, with the top prize carrying an additional $10,000.

Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions is the third book in Wright's democracy trilogy about defining moments in Australia's political history. The trilogy also includes Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, which won the Stella Prize in 2014, and You Daughters of Freedom, which is about white Australian women winning the right to vote.

The 640-page book took Wright a decade to write, during which she lived and worked with the Yirrkala community. "The Yolŋu people wanted me to tell it because they wanted Australia to know their story," the La Trobe University professor said.

The title was given to Wright in 2020 by Galarrwuy Yunupiŋu, who was named Australian of the Year in 1978. In Yolŋu matha, Näku means "bark" and Dhäruk means "the word" or "message." Wright was also awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020 for her service to literature and historical research.

The Yirrkala Bark Petitions were presented by Yolŋu elders to the Australian parliament in 1963 on painted bark frames, seeking government intervention after part of the Arnhem Land Reserve was licensed to a French mining company. The petitions did not halt mining on the land but led to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, the first land rights legislation in Australia.

The book reached its fourth print run in just over a year. In 2025, prior to the NSW Literary Awards, it was named Australian Political Book of the Year.