Encounters in country

Abstract

When Europeans first made contact with the peoples of the great southern continent - Australian Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, or 'Indigenous Australians' - they were often perplexed. Australian Aboriginal society, one of the most long-standing and successful civilisations in world history, was composed so differently to their own that Europeans of the time found it hard to comprehend what they were seeing. In 1688 the English explorer William Dampier (1651-1715) voyaged along the north-west coast of the continent. Show more