![]() ![]() The evidence Pascoe has unearthed about the ways Aboriginal Australians managed the land through controlled fire burns and the way the soil was then compared to how it is now after more than 200 years of Western farming practices are more important than ever now. These citations are all listed within the book and have been independently checked by Rick Morton for the Saturday Paper. Pascoe meticulously cites many diaries and original sources from early settler first hand accounts, including some accounts from very familiar names such as Charles Sturt and Thomas Mitchell. I found the evidence in Dark Emu to be very well and modestly presented. I suspect this may be the case as history is always written by the victor! Pascoe also argues that evidence of pre-colonial Aboriginal societies and structure was deliberately erased by early settlers. He presents robust evidence from early settler accounts and archaeological evidence which strongly suggest that many Aboriginal people all over Australia were engaging in farming, building, storing, irrigating, governing, and making activities that mean that they were not hunter-gatherers at all. Pascoe argues that what we learned in school about what Aboriginal Australians were like before the First Fleet arrived in Australia is wrong. Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe should be essential reading for all Australians! A truer history of Australian agriculture. ![]()
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