For nearly two hundred years, the Aborigines were treated as little more than
'a melancholy footnote' to Australian history. When this book was first
published in 1975 it was called an 'excellent short summary'. This third edition
continues to offer a simple, balanced and concise study of the interaction of
indigenous and European Australians. It has been reorganised and completely
rewritten to revise and update the text in the light of the boom in historical
archaeological and anthropological research into, and contending interpretations
of, the Australian Indigenous story over the last forty years.
This book traces the evolution of relations between black and white from 1788
to the present time but, in a unique approach, it divides the story into two parts: the first examines Aboriginal reactions to the non-indigenous, and the second examines policies of governments and non-indigenous attitudes towards Indigenous people.
Using numerous illustrations and incorporating carefully selected primary
sources, Malcolm Prentis presents an overview which will appeal to both the
student and the general reader, providing a background to the situations still
facing black and which Australians today.
Contents:
Preface to the Third Edition
Acknowledgements
List of Readings
List of Maps
List of Further Reading
1. Introduction
2. Before 1788
Part 1. Aboriginal Reactions to the Europeans
3. First Contacts
4. Resisting the Invaders
5. Adapting to a New Situation
6. Poverty and Protest
7. Since 1967
Part 2. White Reactions to the Aborigines
8. Policy and Practice in the Colonial Period 1788-1855
9. The Protection Era 1855-1937
10. The Assimilation Era 1937-1960s
11. The Rise of Self-Determination 1960s-1990s
12. Mabo, Wik and Reconciliation
13. Conclusion
Additional References
Websites
Audio-Visual Material
Index
