Aborigines and Colonialism in the Upper Daly Basin Region

Abstract

This historical submission relies heavily on European evidence in primary source form. No serious regional histories have been published on the Upper Daly area or its general vicinity; the written records available are not only very scattered, but make scanty and usually nonspecific references to Aborigines. Unfortunately little Aboriginal oral history has been collected in this area, and there was not time for special historical fieldwork to be conducted. Some attempt has been made here to incorporate Aboriginal viewpoints, but the testimony of claimants during the Land Claim hearing will hopefully fill in the gaps tn this submission. Issues already covered in the historical section of the Daly River (Malak Malak)-Land Claim book have not been dealt with here at length. Some of the more general comments and arguments have been drawn from my Doctoral thesis entitled 'We Grew up the Stations: Europeans, Aborigines and Cattle in the Northern Territory 1 . Show more