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Nicho knows how to Stand Proud as an Indigenous man
By PETER ROWE
Rugby League star Nicho Hynes has published a book about his experiences growing up as an Aboriginal child.
The book, co-authored with Marlee Silva and illustrated by Archibald Prize winner Black Douglas tells the story of how he first learnt about his heritage.
“Everyone goes on a different cultural journey to find who they are and their identity,” he told the ABC at the launch of Stand Proud, published by Penguin Random House.
“There are kids who maybe go through something similar and they can realise that someone like me has walked a similar path, and they can always find who they are if they want to go on the journey.
“It might be able to spark something in their belly to educate themselves a little bit more.”
The Cronulla Sharks halfback, who won the NRL’s Dally M Medal in 2022, grew up on the Central Coast of NSW and didn’t really know now much abut his culture.
He didn’t think he was Aboriginal because of his right skin colour, until one day his mother told him of the family background.
Archibald Prize winner Black Douglas, Nicho Hynes and Marlee Silva.
“If you didn’t have to identify [as Aboriginal], you didn’t. But there’s something inside that says: ‘Wait a minute, you’ve got 60,000 years of ancestry’,” he said.
The picture book, with some great illustrations from Douglas, Hynes hopes will help others understand their heritage.
Stand Proud is available at all good book stores now.
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