Author(s): BROOME RICHARD

World History

A comprehensive history of black-white encounters in Australia since colonization, tracing the continuing Aboriginal struggle to move from the margins of colonial society to a more central place in modern Australia. Fully updated, this new edition explains the land rights struggle since Mabo, the Hindmarsh Island case, and debates over the "stolen generation". In 2000, Cathy Freeman stood on a podium, ready to light the Olympic cauldron, at the climax of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Games. Throughout the ceremony, Aboriginal talent was on display and in the night sky, a mystic creature from the rich world of Aboriginal art rose above the stadium. Tens of millions of TV viewers worldwide witnessed Aboriginality as an important part of Australia's identity. But what of the experience of the first Australians since the Europeans arrived? Was the impression created at that Opening Ceremony a genuine reflection of black Australia's place in society? In the creation of any new society, there are winners and losers. So it was with Australia as it grew through invasion, settlement and development from a colonial outpost to an affluent industrial society.
This book tells the history of Australia from the standpoint of the original Australians - those who lost most in the country's early colonial struggle for power. Surveying two centuries of Aboriginal-European encounters, it reveals what white Australia lost through unremitting colonial invasion and tells the story of Aboriginal survival through resistance and accommodation. It traces the continuing Aboriginal struggle to move from the margins of colonial society to a more central place in modern Australia. This updated edition explains the land rights struggle since Mabo, the Hindmarsh Island case, debates over the "stolen generation", "sorry", and reconciliation, and the recent experience of Aboriginal Australia.