"Colonial Australia sought to forget the advanced nature of the Aboriginal society and economy, and this amnesia was entrenched when settlers who arrived after the depopulation of whole districts found no structure more substantial than a windbreak, and no population that was not humiliated, debased, and diseased."
A work colleague commented upon seeing me with this book in the lunchroom that it was a "book all Australians should read" and I'm inclined to agree. Certainly putting paid to the fiction of terra nullius in a well-researched and fascinating way. When you consider all the challenges that this wide, brown land of Australia poses due to most of the country being considered arid and inhospitable, its instructive to hear about the different methods of farming and cultivation that provided sustenance for its original inhabitants.
There's nothing new under the sun and we could learn a lot for the future by revisiting the past. Pascoe does a great job of doing just that. So add this to your home library, give it to your kids and gain a better understanding of the importance of the traditional owners of the land on which we live today.
5 out of 5 new crops could rise from these tales of yore.
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