David Price - The Shameful Isles

The Mandurah Readers’ and Writers’ Festival is an annual adult literature event presented by City of Mandurah Library Services. The aim of the festival is to foster a love of reading and literature and encourage creativity in our community.

In 2026 the festival will be held from 8 - 10 January at Seashells Mandurah, bringing together an array of established and emerging storytellers from across Western Australia. This three-day festival includes author talks, and panel discussions.

Please Note:

This ticket is for an individual event, if you would like to attend for the whole day, please purchase a Mandurah Readers & Writers Festival 2026 - Day One Ticket ($15.00)

Day one of the Mandurah Readers & Writers Festival begins with David Price in conversation with Teena Miller, as they discuss David’s latest book, The Shameful Isles: the true story of north-west Australia's fatal experiment with medical apartheid.

David Price

David Price is a Western Australian educator and writer who grew up in the small northwest town of Carnarvon. His first book, Dark Tales from the Long River, was published by Fremantle Press in 2021 and explored some lesser-known and sadder historical events of the Gascoyne and Murchison Regions. Now living in Perth, David continues to be intrigued by the unspoken history of his home state and committed to bringing sometimes uncomfortable truths into the light.

The Shameful Isles: the true story of north-west Australia's fatal experiment with medical apartheid.

In 1907, the Western Australian government began a program of forcibly removing supposedly ill Aboriginal people to purpose-built lock hospitals on Bernier and Dorre Islands, off the coast of Carnarvon.

There, they were trapped against their will and exposed to experimental drugs and procedures. Many never returned and are buried in unmarked graves in the sandhills of Bernier and Dorre.

Comprised of meticulous research and contemporaneous accounts patient-prisoners, politicians, stockmen, nurses, policemen and journalists, The Shameful Isles reveals one of Western Australia’s most tragic acts of state-sponsored oppression from which First Nations peoples are still recovering.

Facilitator - Teena Miller

Teena Miller is Coordinator Library Services for the City of Mandurah. In addition to her Bachelor of Arts degree, Teena also has a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies and recently completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Teena has what some might consider an unnatural enthusiasm for crime, which stems from her undergraduate degree in Sociology / Anthropology, not her family history (although rumour has it, she does come from convict stock).

An avid reader, Teena has a particular fondness for Australian crime, both true and fictional and also loves dinosaurs and primates. But that’s a whole other story!

What to Expect:

9.30am: In Conversation

10.15am: Q & A

10.30am: Book Signing

Tea & Coffee provided.

Festival Bookseller is Dymocks Busselton