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bookpossum's review
5.0
This is such an interesting and thought-provoking book, with four little-known stories of interactions between First Nations people and the British people who were either passing through or seeking to settle in their lands.
The first story of an incredible trek from the coast of Victoria all the way to Sydney by a group of shipwrecked men is absolutely gripping. They only did this with the help of the many Indigenous people through whose country they were passing, and it is heartbreaking to read how quickly the story was changed by people including the Governor of New South Wales, to emphasise the one bad experience the men had in order to turn this into a story of brave white men surviving the savages.
As Mark McKenna says at the end of the book: For any of us to develop a truly honest and informed historical consciousness in Australia requires a double-act: to hold both the violent dispossession of Indigenous Australians and the steady emergence of a society built on equality, democracy and freedom from racial discrimination in our imagination at the same time, and to do so by hearing both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives.
We need more books about our history like this one.
The first story of an incredible trek from the coast of Victoria all the way to Sydney by a group of shipwrecked men is absolutely gripping. They only did this with the help of the many Indigenous people through whose country they were passing, and it is heartbreaking to read how quickly the story was changed by people including the Governor of New South Wales, to emphasise the one bad experience the men had in order to turn this into a story of brave white men surviving the savages.
As Mark McKenna says at the end of the book: For any of us to develop a truly honest and informed historical consciousness in Australia requires a double-act: to hold both the violent dispossession of Indigenous Australians and the steady emergence of a society built on equality, democracy and freedom from racial discrimination in our imagination at the same time, and to do so by hearing both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives.
We need more books about our history like this one.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
5.0
‘The country that we long perceived as a ‘land without history’ is one of the most deeply storied countries on earth.’
In the late eighteenth century, seventeen men set off to walk some 700 kilometres from Ninety Mile Beach (in Victoria) to Sydney. Leaving their fellow survivors, they had set off in a long boat after the shipwreck of the ‘Sydney Cove’ off Preservation Island in Bass Strait. When their longboat broke apart in a storm, they had no alternative to walk north following the coastline. This story, of their walk, is also an amazing story of the support they received from the Indigenous people they encountered along the way.
There are three other stories in this book: the founding of a ‘new Singapore’ in western Arnhem Land in the 1840s; the constantly evolving story of Captain James Cook’s time in Cooktown in 1770; and the story of Australia’s largest industrial development project amongst outstanding Indigenous rock art in the Pilbara.
Each of these four stories involves different encounters between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Each requires me, as a non-Indigenous Australian, to think about the history I have learned and the possible interpretations of events. Before reading this book, I knew very little about these four different stories. I’d not heard of the walk from Ninety Mile Beach in 1797, or of the settlement in West Arnhem Land. I’d never really thought about Captain Cook’s time in (and impact on) what we now call Cooktown in 1770. Until recently, I’d not thought of the impact of the development of the Pilbara on those who’d occupied this ancient land long before European arrival.
I’ve enjoyed reading this book. While I’ve learned more of the history around European arrival, I’ve also had to think (uncomfortably at times) about the impact on those who were here long before us: The Indigenous people and their culture.
I understand that ‘From the Edge’ is the first of two books intended to ‘explore Australian history through place.’ I look forward to reading the second of these books when it becomes available.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In the late eighteenth century, seventeen men set off to walk some 700 kilometres from Ninety Mile Beach (in Victoria) to Sydney. Leaving their fellow survivors, they had set off in a long boat after the shipwreck of the ‘Sydney Cove’ off Preservation Island in Bass Strait. When their longboat broke apart in a storm, they had no alternative to walk north following the coastline. This story, of their walk, is also an amazing story of the support they received from the Indigenous people they encountered along the way.
There are three other stories in this book: the founding of a ‘new Singapore’ in western Arnhem Land in the 1840s; the constantly evolving story of Captain James Cook’s time in Cooktown in 1770; and the story of Australia’s largest industrial development project amongst outstanding Indigenous rock art in the Pilbara.
Each of these four stories involves different encounters between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Each requires me, as a non-Indigenous Australian, to think about the history I have learned and the possible interpretations of events. Before reading this book, I knew very little about these four different stories. I’d not heard of the walk from Ninety Mile Beach in 1797, or of the settlement in West Arnhem Land. I’d never really thought about Captain Cook’s time in (and impact on) what we now call Cooktown in 1770. Until recently, I’d not thought of the impact of the development of the Pilbara on those who’d occupied this ancient land long before European arrival.
I’ve enjoyed reading this book. While I’ve learned more of the history around European arrival, I’ve also had to think (uncomfortably at times) about the impact on those who were here long before us: The Indigenous people and their culture.
I understand that ‘From the Edge’ is the first of two books intended to ‘explore Australian history through place.’ I look forward to reading the second of these books when it becomes available.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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