History and the landscape in Central Australia : a study of the material evidence of European culture and settlement

Abstract

While my book focuses on the story of white settlement in Central Australia, this can not be understood without almost constant awareness of the first inhabitants, the Aborigines. It is here that anthropological research is so vital in clarifying the differences between Aboriginal and European concepts of the land… In 1983 Tim Rowse concluded in his article ‘Liberalising the Frontier’ the Central Australia was part of Australia’s least successful colonised political unit, the Northern Territory, and one that contains two very different civilisations based on land use and economic organisation. This book selectively examines certain aspects of those civilisations that are more fully assessed when material evidence is known and understood. It also examines how more recent arguments about the ‘future of the past’ in Central Australia can be most effectively viewed when elements which have not traditionally been a part of Australian historical scholarship are taken into account.