The Civil Rights Movement - Further Reading

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to write some chapters for Cambridge University Press's History Transformed series. It was a labour of love and, best of all, it gave me an excuse to read a whole bunch of history books. 

One of the chapters I contributed was focused on the NSW syllabus's Rights and Freedoms core study for Stage 5. I found that I accumulated a lot of notes in my research, far more than I was able to use for the textbook, so this is as good a time as any to share an overview of useful texts for any teachers looking to deepen their knowledge of 20th century Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, and/or other aspects of the Rights and Freedoms core study.

Bringing Them Home report (Government Document, 1997)

• The Stolen Generations report is essential reading for anyone who wants to gain a more empathetic understanding of what is perhaps Australia's greatest 20th century historical shame. This document can be easily found online and includes firsthand testimonies from many of those who identify as part of the Stolen Generations.

Thinking Black by Bain Attwood and Andrew Markus (Book, 2004)

• An account of 1930s Aboriginal activist William Cooper and his role in the Day of Mourning.

The 1967 Referendum by Bain Attwood and Andrew Markus (Book, 2007)

• How it happened, what happened, and what the long term impact was - this book is a great explainer of the watershed referendum. 

Bearing the Cross by David J. Garrow (Book, 1986)

• I only had limited time to delve into the U.S. movement as my focus needed to predominantly be on Australia, so I really wanted to sink my teeth into a book that would cover Martin Luther King Jr.'s campaigns in more than suitable detail. Bearing the Cross is exactly that book; a methodical and comprehensive look at MLK's role in the American Civil Rights movement that encompasses Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the powderkeg events in Birmingham that galvanised America, and a whole range of other historically significant events that link back to King. The perfect overview for an Australian reader wanting to look at the wider context for all the major events of the 1950s and '60s African-American Civil Rights Movement. 

Breath of Life by Kevin Gilbert and Eleanor Williams (Gallery Program, 1996)

• Published in connection to an art museum installation, if you can find this (check your local university or state library) it contains a lot of great background information on the Tent Embassy, Mabo and Native Title, and protests in the 1990s. As Kevin Gilbert had passed away three years earlier in 1993, this functions in some part as a preservation of the renowned activist's voice.

Invasion to Embassy by Heather Goodall (Book, 1996)

• An overview of a whole range of 20th century events in Aboriginal activism - includes stuff on the controversial Aboriginal-authored 1930s newspaper The Abo Call, the early civil rights movement as pioneered by Bill Ferguson and Jack Patten in the same era, the Cummeragunja Strike, and the Tent Embassy. 

Aboriginal Affairs: Seeking a Solution 1967-2005 by Max Griffiths (Book, 2006)

• This book is especially useful for NSW History teachers as it focuses on years that comprise the main part of the Stage 5 Core Study. Includes the Land Rights struggle, Mabo, Wik, the Tent Embassy, the Aboriginal Black Power Movement, Paul Keating's role, Redfern, and Yirrkala. 

Aboriginal Reconciliation by Justin Healey (Policy Textbook, 2006)

• Overview of the Reconciliation movement, traces cause and effect from 2006 back to 1918, and puts forward primary source arguments for the Apology two years before it happened. Invaluable if you can find a copy!

Indigenous Rights by Justin Healey (Policy Textbook, 2014)

• Outlines the then-ongoing response to recent events, including the 2008 Apology, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Northern Territory Intervention.

Yami: The Autobiography by Yami Lester (Book, 1993)

• I put this one in here because it connects to a part of Australian history that doesn't get talked about nearly enough: the UK testing of atomic weapons on Australian soil. I first heard about such a thing through Paul Kelly's haunting song Maralinga. This memoir provides a firsthand account of Yami Lester, the Aboriginal man mentioned in that song, who was blinded by the Maralinga Nuclear Bomb tests while living in the outback. 

Wandjuk Marika: A Life Story by Wandjuk Marika and Jennifer Isaacs (Book, 1995)

• This biography was created in consultation with Marika himself and the extensive use of his own words makes it as close to an autobiography as we were ever likely to get from the pivotal Arnhem Land activist. Marika was one of the Yolngu people's foremost representatives throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. In terms of historical significance, Marika was instrumental in both the historic Gove Land Rights case and the delivery of the Yirrkala Bark Petition. 

Protest, Land Rights and Riots by Barry Morris (Book, 2013)

• A modern overview of more recent events (the 1980s and 1990s) that aren't really covered elsewhere in this list (EG. The Brewarrina Riot, and Deaths in Custody). 

Charles Perkins by Peter Read (Book, 1990)

• Perkins has an autobiography that he wrote in 1975 (A Bastard Like Me) but this authorised 1990 biography has a bit more distance that allows for a broader look at events in historical context. Read utilises interview transcripts with Perkins to reconstruct the activist's role in the Aboriginal Civil Rights Movement. Provides a good account of the Australian Freedom Rides.

Why Weren't We Told? by Henry Reynolds (Book, 1999)

• The landmark reflection of white realisation in response to the revelations of the Bringing Them Home report, in which the Stolen Generations were brought much more broadly to the public's attention. 

The Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds (Book, 2013)

• A history of the Australian Aboriginal Rights Movement. An interest text as it looks at the activists themselves and their fight for change rather than the more-discussed history they were reacting to.

This list is by no means complete. There's a wealth of material available and the ongoing historiography of the Civil Rights Movement means that there is more great material being released all the time. Anyway, hopefully there's something above that might be helpful! 

Rights and Freedoms - Core Study Timeline

Below you will find a Chronology of Rights and Freedoms that I built while researching some material for the Cambridge History Transformed Stage 5 textbook that was released 3 years ago. 

This timeline covers 1901 to the present day and is still a draft. Let's face it, anyone working with History will know that any reconstruction of past events is technically always a draft that's open for revision. I find myself adding and revising aspects of this timeline all the time - historical events sometimes come into focus, and then cause and effect can become clearer as a result... or sometimes even less clear.

The timeline also reflects the needs of the Rights and Freedoms Core Study in Stage 5 NSW History, hence the inclusion of some USA and World (United Nations) details which add context to the bigger picture of Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander rights and freedoms. This timeline is mostly for my own understanding rather than a resource I'd necessarily give to students - I've found it useful as a reference tool, especially when looking for things like a sequence of events relating to the Stolen Generations or the influence of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement on the Aboriginal peoples. 

It's also been useful for providing context for a range of English topics - Year 9-10 study of Rabbit Proof Fence or The Sapphires, or Year 12 modules focused on prescribed texts such as Inside My Mother by Ali Cobby Eckermann, Rainbow's End by Jane Harrison, or Namatjira by Scott Rankin.

1901. Federation of six colonies into one nation. 

1902. Commonwealth Franchise Act disenfranchises 'native' people in all Commonwealth countries (with the exception of NZ)

1903-1913. Pastoral settlement of the Kimberley region and 'pacification' of the Aboriginal people there.

1904-1908. Removal of all Aboriginal men from the Derby settlement in Western Australia.

1905. Roth Royal Commission into the treatment of Aboriginal people.

1907. Relations between Aboriginal and Macassan peoples formerly banned by Australian government.   

1909. Federal Aborigines Protection Act 1909 established on a national scale, following on from pre-Federation colonial legislation. The 'Aborigines Protection Board' is given power over the custody, maintenance, and education of Aboriginal children.

1910. Australian Board of Missions petitions Federal and State Governments to agree to a scheme for human and civil rights to be safeguarded for Aboriginal people.

1912-1932. Records indicate that at least 1500 children were removed from Aboriginal families across Australia in this time.

1912. Cootamundra Girls' Home created to train Aboriginal girls for domestic service.

1914. C.F. Gale, Chief Protector of the Aborigines, inspects the Kimberley region and gathers up as many 'half-caste' children as possible, placing them at the Roman Catholic Mission in Beagle Bay.

1915. Amendment to the Aborigines Protection Act allows the government to remove Aboriginal children from families. 

1916. Punitive expedition to Lizard Island results in the deaths of several Aboriginal men.

1918. Northern Territory passes the Aborigines Ordinance to forbid mining on Aboriginal Reserve Land.

1920 (world). U.S. President Woodrow Wilson creates the League of Nations

1924. Kinchela Boys' Home is created to train Aboriginal boys to be farm labourers.

1925. Colonel J.C. Genders spearheads a campaign to form a Black State in northern QLD.

1925. The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed in opposition to the Aborigines Protection Board.

1926. Forrest River Massacre takes place. Somewhere between 30 to 300 Aboriginal people killed.

1926. Disastrous year for bushfires. A pattern would emerge after this wherein bushfire epidemics would regularly strike in the absence of widescale Aboriginal firestick farming (controlled burning).

1928. William Harris leads a delegation of Aboriginal people to meet the Premier of WA to talk about possible exemptions from the Aborigines Act for 'half-castes', suburban Aboriginal peoples, and those who live in the southern portion of Australia.

1928. Rev. William Morley calls for a Royal Commission on the Constitution that would subsequently allow the Federal Government to have complete control of all Aboriginal people. The Royal Commission takes place, with the outcome being that the States should continue to retain control of police, lands, and industry and therefore a Commonwealth authority would not be qualified to deal with the Aboriginal peoples. 

1930. British Commonwealth League Conference accuses Australia of breaking the League of Nations slavery conventions through the use of forced Aboriginal labour, removal of children from families, and the withholding of wages. 

1930s. NT and WA practise an extreme form of assimilation through forced state marriages of 'lighter caste' Aboriginal peoples.

1931. Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve established.

1933. 129 Aboriginal people die from poor health conditions in the Kimberley region. There are only 3 doctors in the area at the time, none of whom would leave white communities to treat Aboriginal people in remote areas. A leprosy outbreak also occurs in an Aboriginal community in the same area at this time, with 80 lepers discovered in the northern part of WA over a 9 month period.

1933. A punitive expedition led against the Yolngu people in the NT ends in the arrest of local leader Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda.

1934. WA 'Royal Commission on Aborigines' proposes miscegenation as the solution to the problem of Aborigines in Australia, a policy of biological assimilation to be achieved by "breeding out the black" (quote from Dr Cyril Bryan). Some whites are outraged at the idea of white women marrying Aboriginal men. 

1934. The total amount of stolen children accumulated at the Beagle Bay Mission over the least 20 years now equals 68.

1935 (world). Italian dictator Mussolini invades and occupies Abyssinia without provocation. The League of Nations fails to make a decisive response.

1937. The Australian Aborigines' League publishes 'The Abo Call', the first Aboriginal-authored newspaper.

1937. Aboriginal activist William Cooper writes a petition letter to King George V asking for better conditions for Aboriginal people.

1937. Chief Protector A.O. Neville speaks at a conference in Canberra about the superiority of having Aboriginal children live in white-run institutions rather than in traditional 'blacks' camps'. A policy of Assimilation is outlined and adopted throughout each of the States.  

1938. First 'Day of Mourning' held by Aboriginal protestors William Cooper and Bill Ferguson from the Australian Aborigines' League on the 150th anniversary of white Australian settlement. They demand a national policy for Aboriginal peoples and that the Commonwealth take control of Aboriginal affairs away from the States. 

1938. The Cummeragungja Walk-Off takes place - the first strike by Aboriginal workers.

1940-1942. Mass migration of Aboriginal people to Alice Springs; restrictions put on Aboriginal people arriving in the town. 

1942. Prime Minister John Curtin proposes amendments to the Australian constitution to be made once the war ends, including increased Commonwealth power over Aboriginal affairs. The States oppose this and a referendum goes ahead in response (and fails).

1942. The Torres Strait Infantry Battalion, an all-Indigenous unit established in the Torres Strait during World War II, patrols New Guinea on behalf of the Allied Forces.

1943. Thousands of Aboriginal people are hired by the army in World War II for labouring and other services in the Northern Territory.

1944. Recognition from some commentators that retribalisation of Aboriginal people is now impossible after most have undergone a significant period of urbanisation.

1945 (world). End of World War II.

1945 (world). The United Nations is first proposed as a replacement for the League of Nations. A UN Charter is signed by all participating nations, providing the Security Council with the power to create international laws. Little mention is made in the charter at this point about human rights.

1945 (USA). Rosa Parks is thrown off a bus for the first time after refusing to enter via the back door (as per local law in Montgomery, Alabama).

1946. The Australian government allows British testing of nuclear weapons at the Aboriginal-populated region of Maralinga in South Australia.

1946 (world). The League of Nations formally ceases operation. 

1946 (world). The Nuremberg Trials bring to light many shocking details about the Holocaust. Eleanor Roosevelt spearheads an international committee to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

1947 (world). Australian representative Dr Herbert Vere Evatt assists with the final writing of the UN Human Rights charter.

1948. Dr Evatt becomes President of the UN General Assembly and guides in the adoption of the Universal Declaration by the UN. 

1950s. The Council for Aboriginal Rights begins to push for the rewriting of any domestic Australia laws that contradict the UN Human Rights charter.

1951. Some states, such as Victoria, opt not to have a Minister for Aboriginal Affairs as they "do not differentiate between Aborigines and other Australians."

1952. Aboriginal activist Ted Noffs visit Wilcannia and observes living conditions among the Aboriginal people there.

1952-1957. Anglo-Australian nuclear testing takes place at bomb sites in Maralinga, Monte Bello, and Emu Field. 

1953. Charles Perkins takes politician Donald Dunstan to see Aboriginal reserves.

1953. Northern Territory gives citizenship rights to any Aboriginal people not in state care.

1954. Arrernte painter Albert Namatjira is given Australian citizenship as a special case.

1954 (USA). Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka overturns segregationist laws regarding African-Americans and which schools they can attend.

1955 (USA). Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) decides not to politicise the event.

1955 (USA). Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. This time NAACP decides to politicise the event.

1955-1960 (USA). Malcolm X advocates for African-American separation from white society, articulating a need for self-determination within America. His co-leadership of the Nation of Islam increases membership numbers from 1200 to 50 000.

1956 (USA). African-Americans boycott buses in Montgomery, a campaign that eventually results in the desegregation of Montgomery buses. 

1956. Harry Penrith (also known as Burnum Burnum) and the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship both launch referendum campaigns to change the Australian Constitution so that full citizenship rights are granted to Aboriginal peoples.

1957. Charles Perkins joins the South Australian branch of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines. 

1957-1967. Faith Bandler campaigns and petitions for a referendum on equal rights for Aboriginal people. 

1958. Albert Namitjira is arrested and gaoled for supplying alcohol to his family.

1958. Creation of the first organisation focused on Aboriginal rights - the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. They begin campaigning for constitutional reform and by 1963 their petitions have gained 100 000 signatures. 

1960 (USA). The Greensboro Counter Sit-ins take place.

1960 (USA). John F. Kennedy is elected President of the U.S. As part of his election campaign aimed at African-Americans in the South, the Democrat Party issues 'the Blue Bomb' - two millions copies of a pamphlet highlighting JFK's willingness to work with Martin Luther King Jr.. 

1960. The entire Yanyuwa Aboriginal community is removed from the township of Borroloola and taken to a reserve at Dangana. They all simply walk back to Borroloola.

1961. The federal government's Assimilation policy is reinforced at the Commonwealth conference on Aboriginal issues.

1961 (USA). The Freedom Rides take place throughout the American South.

1962 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads demonstrations in Albany against segregation.

1962. Legislation is passed by the Commonwealth to allow all Aboriginal adults to vote in federal elections. Registration to vote remains not compulsory for Aboriginal people.

1962. The South Australian government repeals the Aborigines Act.

1963 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, against segregation. Business leaders are brought to their knees via a powerful boycott from the African-American community, and they decide to negotiate with Martin Luther King to begin desegregation.

1963 (USA). The KKK conducts bombing attacks aimed at the African-American community in Birmingham.

1963 (USA). The Nation of Islam, led by Malcolm X, gains attention in the media through their advocating of violence against segregationists.

1963 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads the March on Washington.

1963. The Yirrkala Bark Petition for land rights is presented by the Yolngu people to Queensland Parliament.  

1964. First legal disputes between mining companies and Aboriginal communities.

1964. The Labor Party puts forward a bill to repeal parts of the constitution pertaining to Aboriginal citizenship. This bill challenged the discriminatory nature of the constitution but ultimately failed to gain any traction when presented to Parliament.

1964 (USA). The Civil Rights Act is passed by Lyndon B. Johnson after JFK's assassination.

1964 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

1965 (USA). Demonstrations take place in Selma against restrictions on voting for African-Americans in Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested, and Civil Rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson is murdered. The marches intensity and Martin Luther King Jr. gains support from the President. The Voting Rights Bill overturns discriminatory voting laws in Alabama.

1965 (USA). Malcolm X is assassinated. 

1965. Charles Perkins leads an Australian 'Freedom Ride' against racial discrimination, modelled after the American one. In response to the Freedom Ride, the Menzies government begins to debate whether a referendum on Aboriginal citizenship should take place.

1965. The Assimilation policy is replaced by an Integrationist policy after the Commonwealth-State Conference.

1965. An Arbitration Commission rules that Aboriginal people will get paid full basic wages, however, a period of 3 years is given for it come into effect so that farming stations have time to adjust. 

1965. Charles Perkins is appointed as manager of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs.

1966. Walgett desegregates their cinema and Moree desegregates their pools, both in response to the Aboriginal activism of the Freedom Rides. 

1966. Charles Perkins visits African-American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson in Chicago, USA. 

1966. Vincent Lingiari leads the Wattie Creek Gurundji Strike in the Northern Territory. The Gurundji Aboriginal workers walk off Wave Hill Station and return to their traditional land in Wattie Creek, refusing to wait 3 years for equal payment. 

1966 (USA). The Black Panther Party is founded in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seal and Huey Newton. 

1967 (USA). The Black Panthers hold rallies in Richmond, California, and disrupt a legislative hearing on the Mulford Act. The Black Panthers also release their Ten-Point Program - a declaration of their ideals and intentions.

1967 (USA). Huey Newton kills a police officer. The FBI also creates COINTELPRO to investigate and neutralise Black Power threats at this time.

1967. The Holt Government agrees to a National Referendum on Aboriginal citizenship. 90% of people vote 'yes'. A 'No' campaign is not mounted by anyone. The result of the referendum is the repeal of a part of Section 127 of the Constitution - meaning that Aboriginal people would now be counted in the next national census. The only other change is the giving of power to the Commonwealth to enact 'special laws' for Aboriginal people - meaning that the States no longer had the ability to create their own discriminatory legislation concerning Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

1967. Gary Foley, Paul Coe, and Michael Anderson lead the Aboriginal Black Power Movement in Redfern.

1968. W.E.H. Stanner delivers his landmark lectures on the 'Great Australian Silence', concerning Aboriginal history. 

1968 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis. Nationwide riots occur, some led by the Black Panthers.

1968 (USA). Fighting between the Black Panthers and police officers ends in the death of Black Panther leader Bobby Hutton. 

1968. Many young Aboriginal people are inspired by Tommie Smith and John Carlos's iconic 'Black Power' salutes at the Mexico Olympics.

1969. The Aborigines Welfare Board is abolished due to increased media attention on the mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples in reserves. 

1969. Full basic wages are finally awarded to Aboriginal workers on cattle stations.

1970. Sol Bellear and other Aboriginal activists travel to the U.S. and live with the Black Panthers for some time. The Aboriginal Black Panther Party is created in Brisbane by Denis Walker and Sam Watson.

1970. Aboriginal protest takes place against a re-enactment of Captain Cook's landing at Botany Bay.

1970-1975. Collapse of pastoralism in the Kimberley region leads to a mass migration of Aboriginal people to Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Derby, Turkey Creek, and Wyndham. The Western Australian government launches an enquiry into their mass migration to determine causes.

1971. Court case of Milirrpum and others vs. Nabalco and the Commonwealth Government - otherwise known as the Gove dispute between the Yolngu people and the Nabalco mining company.

1971. United Nations Year Against Racism - contrasts with Australian commentators questioning whether the government's goals of assimilating the Aboriginal peoples had been met. 

1971. Luritja Aboriginal man Harold Thomas designs the Aboriginal flag. 

1972. Prime Minister Billy McMahon rejects proposed land rights for Aboriginal peoples.

1972. Links forged between the Aboriginal Black Power movement and the Polynesian Panthers. 

1972. A Moratorium for Black Rights takes place on National Aborigines Day, 14 July. Many of the people who would go on to form the Tent Embassy are mobilised by the event.

1972. Activist Kevin Gilbert mounts a campaign against the McMahon Government over land rights. Aboriginal Tent Embassy created by Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, and Tony Coorey.

1972-75. Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister - the White Australian policy is official ended and a Department of Aboriginal Affairs is created.

1975. Creation of the Racial Discrimination Act. 

1975. Senator Neville Bonner puts forth a resolution for parliament to acknowledge prior ownership of Australia by the Aboriginal people. This is unanimously endorsed. 

1976. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act is legislated.

1979. D.H.C. Coombs proposes a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

1980. The Yuin Aboriginal people are restricted from harvesting abalone by traditional means.

1981. Pintjantjatjara Land Rights Act legislated. The Justice for Aboriginal Australians Report is also released at this time. 

1982. Stamp controversy - an Australia Day stamp depicting an Aboriginal face alongside a First Fleeter and a 20th century migrant draws criticism.

1982. Three Murray Islanders - including Eddie Mabo - begin proceedings against the State of Queensland, and then in the High Court of Australia, regarding their land right claim.

1983. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act is amended and updated.

1984 (world). A committee starts work on the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples.

1986. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act is created.

1986. Aboriginal riot takes place in Bourke.

1987. Aboriginal man Lloyd Boney dies in custody, leading to the Brewarrina Funeral Riot on the 15th of August.

1988. Bicentennial celebrations of white settlement take place. Burnum Burnum travels to England and plants the Aboriginal flag on British soil to commemorate the event. He also begins a campaign for the return of Aboriginal remains still held in a British cemetery. 

1988. A Tactical Response Group is sent to Brewarrina to pre-emptively prepare against 'anti-police' Aboriginal activists on Australia Day.

1988. The National Museum of Australia comes under fire for having a frontier conflict display.

1988. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is created.  

1990. Protests against amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act at NSW Parliament House. Eleven demonstrators are arrested. 

1991. Pat Dodson releases Report on Underlying Issues in Western Australia for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, prompted by the deaths of Mark Quayle, Eddy Murray, Clarence Alec Nean, and Lloyd Boney, among others.

1991. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is established.

1992. Paul Keating delivers his Redfern Speech, marking the first time a Prime Minister acknowledges the dispossession and pain visited upon the Aboriginal peoples.

1992. Mabo 'Native Title' high court judgement issued in case of Mabo vs. Queensland, legal precedent set for the overturning of the historical concept of terra nullius.

1993 (world). International Year of the World's Indigenous People.

1993. Commonwealth Native Title Act created.

1994. Creation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Land Fund to assist in the purchasing of land for Indigenous Australians.

1996. High Court rules on Wik case that pastoral leases do not overrule pre-existing native title.

1996. Prime Minister John Howard rejects proposal for government-led Aboriginal rights and services.

1996. Aboriginal survivors such as Doris and Doreen Katinyeri speak as part of the government's inquiry into the Stolen Generations, forming the basis of the Bringing Them Home report.

1996. John Howard responds to the Bringing Them Homer report by labelling recommendations for compensation as 'inappropriate and unacceptable'. He also goes on to label Aboriginal rallying at this time as 'un-Australian'. 

1997. Kruger vs. Commonwealth case challenges the right of the Northern Territory to remove Aboriginal children from families (established in 1918) and is overruled. N.T. powers (allowing removal of children) remain in place.

1997-2001. Each of the state and territory governments make formal apologies for the Stolen Generations. John Howard refuses to do the same from a Federal perspective.

1998. National Advisor Council for Youth Suicide releases figures that show suicide is 40% higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

1999. Australian Federal Parliament commits to Reconciliation.

2000. National Sorry Day March - 250 000 people walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge to show support for a federal Apology to acknowledge the Stolen Generations. Across the remainder of the year up to 1 million Australians march for Reconciliation.

2000. Spinifex Native Title case determines that the Pila Nguru Aboriginal Corporation will hold 50 000 square kilometres of traditional lands on behalf of the Pila Nguru (also known as the Spinifex People).

2003. A Wukidi Ceremony is held outside of the Supreme Court to symbolically lay to rest Aboriginal elder Dhakiyaa Wirrpanda, who mysteriously 'disappeared' after Northern Territory authorities released him from custody in 1933. 

2004. Aboriginal activist Michael Long takes the 'Long Walk' from Melbourne to Canberra to meet with John Howard and ask for an apology for the Stolen Generations. 

2004 (world). A draft for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is created by a committee made up of 7 nations.

2006 (world). The United Nations vote on the draft for the UNDRIP. Australia votes against it.

2007 (world). The United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples is passed by a large majority in the UN.

2007. The Little Children are Sacred report, which collects together information on abuse in the remote Aboriginal communities, is released. This prompts the Australian govt to suspend the Racial Discrimination Act so that the Northern Territory National Emergency Response (AKA 'the Intervention') can be launched, restricting the rights of Aboriginal peoples throughout regional areas of the territory.

2008. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a formal apology to the Stolen Generations shortly after getting elected.

2010s. The Australian War Memorial rejects calls for the inclusion of the Frontier Wars in the memorial.

2010. The Intervention is amended and the Racial Discrimination Act is partially reinstated.

2010-2012. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces plans to recognise Aboriginal people in the constitution. This plan is abandoned in 2012 due to public reaction against it.

2013. The Government commits funding to the Yolngu people on the 50th anniversary of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions.

2017. The 'Uluru Statement from the Heart' petition is launched by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, requesting increased constitutional acknowledgement of the First Nations peoples.

2019. In accordance with longstanding traditional Aboriginal beliefs, walking on Uluru is banned.

2023. Referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to take place, partially in response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. 

The Frontier Wars - Historiography and Combatting Fake History

In the wake of the recent swell of interest in the Australian War Memorial (and its absence of material acknowledging frontier conflicts) there have been new contributions to the ongoing historiographical debates over the status and nature of the Frontier Wars (1, 2, 3). 

Throughout the 20th century there was reoccurring disagreement amongst historians as to whether these Frontier Wars happened, with prominent politicians such as John Howard and Paul Keating occupying different sides in the resultant 'History Wars' that played out in the media. The denial of the Frontier Wars was somewhat quelled in '00s and '10s due to cultural shifts in politics after the 2008 Apology but it would be wrong to say that pushback on this was ever truly gone. Suffice to say, it is now broadly accepted that the Frontier Wars happened.

As we move into the mid-2020s, however, we find that such historiographical debates are also now subject to the metaphysical knot of our times - fake news, information wars, and fake history. The sad reality today is that there are still people who seek to deny the existence of the Australian Frontier Wars, even in light of the increased coverage of this history. Thankfully there is very little in the mainstream media these days that flat-out rejects the Frontier Wars, but dismissal can still be witnessed in the words of politicians and throughout social media. Denial of the Frontier Wars and, by extension other historical tragedies faced by the Aboriginal peoples (such as the Stolen Generations), typically falls into two broad categories:

1. Misinformation - factually incorrect history reported or shared by someone who isn't aware that it's factually incorrect.
2. Disinformation - factually incorrect history but with the added complication that the person reporting or sharing the information is perfectly aware that it's factually incorrect.

On the surface, misinformation and disinformation look very similar but they operate in slightly different ways. Misinformation can be shared by people with a range of agendas - some may be seeking objective truth, others may be all too happy to find anything that confirms their own political biases. That's not a slight against a particular side of the political spectrum; everyone has political biases both conscious and unconscious.

Disinformation on the other hand is very much a sign of something more sinister. This is the creation of fake information intended to sway or mobilise support for something. It functions like the war propaganda of the 20th century but it's a lot sneakier - in the information age of the hyperactive 1440 minute news cycle with social media sharing, items going viral, and the increasingly blurred line between print and digital media, intentionally-created fake information can very quickly become legitimised. This legitimisation, in which the origins of the fakery become obscured through layers of information and widespread exposure, occurs when reputable public figures and news outlets pick up viral stories and report them under their own banner. This phenomenon (in which disinformation becomes widely available) is known as information laundering, and it's becoming disturbingly more common with every passing year. 

In connection to the above, something else to watch out for is pseudohistory - a practice in which myths, legends, conspiracy theories, etc., are treated as historical fact. This usually originates from non-academic and amateur sources and can (but not always) be explicitly politically motivated. Pseudohistory plays a part in this discussion of fake history because it can take the form of both misinformation and disinformation.

An example of pseudohistory:

• There is a pseudohistorical claim that, prior to the arrival of the Aboriginal peoples, Australia was inhabited by another race of 'pygmy' people. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to get too off-track from the Frontier Wars - you can read more about it here in this clear and comprehensive explanation from the Australian Museum.
• The 'pygmy people' story becomes a form of misinformation if the person or outlet spreading the information is unaware that the existence of the pygmy people has been widely discredited by historical experts. They may be sharing the story because they want to prove something or influence someone's beliefs but they are likely to be genuine when they say that they believe the story themselves. If the story-spreader is familiar with the historical method, is open-minded, or is particularly sensitive to public scrutiny (because they value their own credibility), then it may be possible to counter such misinformation with the provision of evidence to the contrary. 
• The 'pygmy people' story becomes disinformation if the story-spreader is aware that it's untrue or has little care for whether it's supported by evidence or not. In this situation they are definitely sharing the story to further a particular agenda and they evidently do not value the historical method. There is little that can realistically be done to convince an agent of disinformation to stop. The best approach in these cases is fact-checking - to counter the pseudohistorical claims by publicly sharing rational evidence that disproves it, and thus allowing the story-spreader's audience to see the untruths for what they are. This will at least slow down the spread of such disinformation and prevent it from being picked up by legitimate figures/news outlets who may not know better. 

The Frontier Wars

The last few decades and the wider cultural shift within Australian society in light of the Bringing Them Home report, Reconciliation, and other political changes, has meant that there is now an increased acknowledgement of the Frontier Wars in the nation's historical record. There are difficulties in recovering a complete record of events that have, for all intents and purposes, been suppressed for the best part of a hundred years. Nonetheless, the silence of the past is not so insurmountable that we cannot get a pretty clear picture of the tragic violence and warfare that gripped this country for the best part of the 19th century. 

'Bulla' - an illustration by William Hodgkinson, 1861

Below you will find a range of sources that provide information on the conflicts. These aren't exhaustive but they're a good start:

Colonial Frontier Massacres Map. Overseen by Lyndell Ryan.

An ongoing project from the University of Newcastle that draws upon the latest research to construct an interactive database of all of the massacres experienced by the Aboriginal peoples from 1788 to 1930.

Land is Life: From Bush to Town by Richard Baker.

A localised account of the life of the Yanyuwa Aboriginal people in Far North Australia. Much of this text relates to culture and the relationship that the Yanyuwa maintained with the Macassan Asians prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Of interest to a study of the Frontier Wars, the book provides some valuable Aboriginal oral history accounts of the brutal conflict between the Yanyuwa and freshly-arrived Europeans in the 19th century.

A History of Bathurst, Volume 1 by Theo Barker

A large chapter (about 20% of the book) is dedicated to "The Period of Conflict 1820-1832", and details the Governor's declaration of martial law as the early British colony faced an organised and prolonged Wiradjuri resistance. The book has some difficulties with using the phrase 'Frontier War', instead opting to use words like 'attacks' and 'violence', however, there's a lot of primary evidence called upon here that could suggest little else.   

Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed 1793-1802 by Jan Barkley-Jack.

This weighty volume is wholly focused on the creation and development of the Hawkesbury region under British settlement. As such, only a relatively small portion is given over to the Aboriginal history of the area. The author adheres quite closely to the historical method, constructing a narrative based on a range of primary sources. This means that, even though the central thesis is one of settlement and pastoral growth, Barkley-Jack still does not avoid mentioning the protracted conflict between the British and the Aboriginal peoples in the area. That said, there is some effort here to restrict the violence to "just a handful of settlers in a specific location over a five-year period" and the author is not able to attribute the deaths of 30 Aboriginal people in this time to a 'Frontier War'. 

The Black War by Nicholas Clements.

I've read a handful of accounts of the Tasmanian Frontier War and this one is easily the best due to the extensive use of irrefutable primary sources. A highly detailed and heavily-researched account of the most infamous of Australia's Frontier Wars.

Dancing with Strangers by Inga Clendinnen.

A must-read for any history teacher or person interested in Australia's story, Clendinnen weaves a highly engaging narrative around the first days of the Sydney colony, depicting a relatively peaceful first contact between peoples and then portraying the moments that led to the birth of the Frontier Wars. 

Windradyne: A Wiradjuri Koorie by Mary Coe.

An Aboriginal perspective of an Aboriginal war hero of the 19th century. This book provides a compelling narrative of the events of the Bathurst War from the point of view of the Wiradjuri resistance.

The Australian Frontier Wars 1788-1838 by John Connor.

Of all the books on this list, Connor's is unique in being the only military history book (a distinct subgenre of history writing). One of the more essential texts on this list, Connor provides maps, statistics, and campaign evidence on every known frontier conflict from the nominated time period.

The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery.

Flannery's historical scope is much larger than others on this list due to his background as a naturalist. The Future Eaters is a fascinating piece of research that explores the coexistence of the earliest Aboriginal peoples with Australia's now extinct megafauna, and this segues into a more devastating account of the Aboriginal struggle for survival after the arrival of the Europeans. Flannery's book blends scientific perspective with historical research, utilising sourcework to demonstrate cause and effect between European arrival and Frontier conflict. He also unflinchingly examines the role of the Native Police, one of the more disturbing impacts of British arrival upon the Aboriginal peoples.    

Talking to My Country by Stan Grant.

Grant's memoir is highly personal but also focused in particular on his Aboriginal identity. This includes an exploration of the way he sees the Frontier Wars, demonstrating the ongoing reverberations of this history and why it needs to be better addressed.

The Tiwi of North Australia by C.W.M. Hart and Arnold R. Pilling.

Having been written by European anthropologists in the 1950s, there is a lot in this book that is quite outdated and also downright offensive. That said, it's powerful to see that even in 1959 there was an awareness amongst researchers that first contact between Europeans and the Tiwi Aboriginal people was initially quite hostile. This includes a frank account of the failed attempt to turn the Tiwi Islands into 'Fort Dundas', Australia's early 19th century answer to the bustling Asian port of Singapore. Hart and Pilling's assertion that the British and the Tiwi "did not make friends" is an understatement (to say the least) and, after describing the drawn-out four year conflict that led to the abandonment of Fort Dundas in 1829, the authors admit that "Tiwi treatment of outsiders prior to 1900 had been to rob them, spear them, kill them" due to justified fears of blackbirding.

The Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds.

Reynolds explores the idea that a full and complete acknowledgement of the Frontier Wars is needed before true reconciliation can be achieved. The historian parallels the reconciliation movement with accounts of the Frontier Wars, providing evidence to suggest that Aboriginal resistance not only occurred but was widespread and highly strategic. This is a great historiographical study of the way in which Australian society has dealt with the Frontier Wars over time, including an examination of the political commentary throughout the '80s and '90s that sought to reject the history or call attention to it. Of most shocking note is the provision of firsthand testimony from Edward Curr, an 1820s Australian politician who estimated that 15-25% of the Aboriginal population died as a result of the early days of the frontier conflict. Reynolds also assesses the available evidence and written primary sources against the United Nations conditions for classifying something as genocide and... the result isn't good. 

The Whispering in Our Hearts by Henry Reynolds. 

Essentially an account of early settler guilt, this book uncovers the histories of white protesters who agitated for better treatment of the Aboriginal peoples throughout the 19th century. This is juxtaposed throughout the text with primary sources that refer to frontier conflicts and government policy connected to such hostilities.  

Black War by Clive Turnbull.

This 1948 history book isn't particularly reliable in terms of presenting an objective account of the war between Aboriginal Tasmanians and the British. I include this here simply to demonstrate that historians were quite comfortable talking about Frontier Wars some 75 years ago and that there's evidently some continuity in acknowledging its existence over time. 

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A lot of the above is quite grim reading but also incredibly useful to anyone interested in the Frontier Wars. The more I read about these conflicts the more I realise there is still a lot to learn. I'll leave this blog with one final note regarding the ongoing historiography of the Frontier Wars - as of February, 2023, the new chair of the War Memorial, former politician Kim Beazley, has indicated that he plans to dedicate some of the institution's $500 million expansion to a "proper recognition" of the Frontier Wars. 

The Secret River: A Study Guide

The Extension English 1 Elective Literary Homelands offers both teacher and student the chance to parse some quite accessible texts in a sophisticate fashion. The choice of texts for Extension English, perhaps more so than those prescribed for Advanced English, are representative of the fine-toothed wire upon which our culture sits. There's a sharpness, an edginess, a robust and stinging conversation that echoes through some of the texts that have been made available for study in this part of our syllabus.

One such text is Andrew Bovell's dramatic adaptation of Kate Grenville's The Secret River - a play that courted some degree of controversy upon its release and will no doubt provide fertile ground for discussion in the Extension English classes that grapple with its polemical and forthright narrative of colonial confrontation.

What follows is a study guide for the play that seeks to identify key quotes or examples from the text that allow for analysis in relation to Literary Homelands. Each example is paired with both the kernels of analysis (the second column) and an evaluative/critical breakdown of how this links to the elective (the third column). Approximately two out of every three examples are accompanied by some prompts outlined in bold, which students can use to demonstrate their understanding of how the text can be synthesised into an understanding of the elective. 

Study Guide: The Secret River (click to download)

A few key overarching ideas to note that will help students crystalise the play's placement within the elective:

• The impact of our postcolonial perspective on the way the colonial narrative of settler-era Australia has been represented in The Secret River. Think also of the colonial structures that exist in the way the Thornhills do things, express themselves, and project expectations onto the Dharug.
• The parallels, commonalities, and disparities between the Thornhill/Hawkesbury community and the Dharug people. This can be framed from the standpoint of cross-cultural transition and cultural exchange. 
• The way that notions of homeland shift and change from character to character, particularly Sal and Will Thornhill, over the course of the play. 
• The freed convicts as migrants. Keep in mind, however, that the migrants in this case exist within multiple hierarchies. When compared with the Dharug, the migrants are constructing a dominant power structure rather than settling into a marginalised space. In contrast with this though, the convicts have come from their own marginalised space as an underclass in British society. 
• Consider the above in relation to which voices are privileged marginalised or silence.
•  The role that beliefs play in the shaping of identity and claims to 'homeland'.
• The role of language and dialect as representational elements utilised by the author.
• The nature of transgression in relation to values expressed and reinforced by each cultural group within the text.

Happy reading!

Dipping Our Toes into Victoria

Lockhart - the water tower in the background has recently been painted to depict some of the local birdlife.

Hello reader! Just thought I'd jot down my journeys this weekend for posterity.

Nicole and I came down to Wagga Wagga a couple of days ago so we could visit my brother in Lockhart. It's a short trip, just a few days, and I type this blog entry from the desk in our hotel room. We've been trying to get away somewhere for a little while but our last stretch of time off together was just spent at home due to some impending renovation costs. As it's (roughly) the Christmas season and my brother has just had his birthday it was nice to be able to come down to the Riverina and say hello to him, his wife, and my niece. 

But I tell you what - the first day driving down here was like riding in a space capsule that was orbiting closer and closer to the sun. The 45 degree heat was our third passenger in the car; constantly turning our air conditioner down, pushing my face directly into the hot window, and wringing every inch of sweat out of my forehead. We pumped the hotel's air conditioning all night and managed to get our bedroom down to a cool 30+ degrees.

While we were visiting the Lockhart Bartolos, my brother Jon suggested checking out Beechworth on our day of travelling. We were looking for somewhere new to go so we ducked down over the Murray River for the day and visited the historic Victorian town on his recommendation. 

Looking down the main street of Beechworth

Turns out Beechworth is a bit of a Ned Kelly spot owing to his incarceration in Beechworth Gaol. As you walk through the town's sandstone district and past the tourist shops it becomes evident that there are rusty steel effigies of the proto-hipster bushranger everywhere. The visiting tourists are an odd mix of upwardly mobile senior citizens who are drawn to the boutique stores, foreign visitors hoping to see some history, and foul-mouthed singlet-wearers who idolise Australia's most famous criminal. It was quite a vibrant scene.

A tree on the main street

Centre of town

We overheard someone talking about how great Beechworth Bakery is so we decided to go there for lunch. The place was absolutely packed; just a mess of queues crisscrossing everywhere and eight staff members behind the counter who all coincidentally had apparently just started working there that day. Well, I don't really know that, but it seems to be the most reasonable explanation for their lack of service skills. 

As I lined up I listened to two British tourists behind me as they read the menu. One explained to the other what kind of pies they have:

"What's the Australian pie?" the older one asks.

"Bacon, cheese, and egg. Do you want that one?" says the other.

His friend replies with a horrified, "Good lord, no!"

I tried not to laugh too loud.

When I got to the front I worked my way through the menu until the lady behind the counter and I could reach an agreement that my item of choice was available for purchase (some things on the menu were crossed out due to being out of stock, and some things on the menu weren't crossed out but also were out of stock). I got halfway through asking for a pepper steak pie when a customer came back and complained that her pepper steak pies had chicken in them. The lady behind the counter took them, looked carefully at their crust, and confirmed with the kitchen that some pies had been filled with the wrong recipe. This meant that, when I received my pie, said staff member stuck her finger under the lid of the pie in front of me and lifted it up to check what was inside it. 

So, yeah, that was a fun adventure. 

Beechworth Honey Shop

This pipe sucks bees in so they can create honey inside the store. This is easily my favourite thing about the store and I'd love to see more shops incorporate living animals in this way.

We kept exploring the rest of the town, visited the Beechworth Honey Shop, found a pretty cool secondhand bookstore inside an old church building. Nicole then did some preliminary research using the Information Centre (she loves Information Centres) and decided we could go visit the Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site just a little ways to the north, so off we headed.

Bookstore in foreground

Visiting Yeddonba involved driving into Chiltern National Park via a series of dirt roads that spiralled further and further off the highway. The Yeddonba site is located in the middle of a semi-circular walking track that winds up into a rocky hillside that overlooks the box-ironbark forest. Once we found it via car the walk itself took only about 45 minutes.

Yeddonba is considered sacred to several local Aboriginal peoples, with the Dhudhuroa, Pangerang, Minjambuta and Jaitmathang all living in its vicinity prior to European invasion. There are several Aboriginal-authored signs around the track that explain the cultural significance of the local hillside caves and the rock art that can be seen here. 

The drive in. Not the worst dirt road we've unexpectedly found ourselves on!

View from the petroglyphs down into the national park. A beautiful spot - photo doesn't do it justice.

The rock art is quite impressive. Over time it has faded quite a bit but in the daylight it can still be seen clearly enough. The most interesting aspect is the depiction of a Thylacine, an animal that has been extinct on mainland Australia for at least 1000 years. The dating of these particular petroglyphs is estimated to be between 2000 and 10 000 years of age. 

There's something awe-inspiring about looking at artwork that has sat largely undisturbed on an ancient rock-face for an amount of time that dwarfs most of Western recorded history. In this one image of a Thylacine, without any need for scientifically-verified fossil records, we have proof that this marsupial lived on Australia's mainland. I try to imagine what the Chiltern forest was like before the Europeans arrived but pull up short of a reasonable replication - the history is too remote, too distant. All I have is this fading painting and a kind of Gothic solitude interrupted only by birdsong.

Despite my sense of isolation, or perhaps because of it, I feel immensely grateful that the Aboriginal elders of this area have allowed for visitors to share in experiencing it.

Other Australian Travels
North Coast NSW - Byron Bay, Nimbin
The Sapphire Coast 1, The Sapphire Coast 2 - Green Cape, Boydtown, Eden
The Snowy Mountains - Tumut, Adaminaby, Cooma, Candelo

Eden: Paradise and Purgatory by the Sea

Eden perches with some degree of isolation on a clifftop, surveying a wide open expanse of ocean with a sense of ambiguity not often felt in country communities. In the 21st century Eden is known as a perfect whale-watching spot, however, it's history is also firmly entrenched in a dark whaling mythology that is so unique that the town dare not ignore it. 

Nicole and I came here because I was drawn to the bizarre story of Eden's whaling industry. We booked a room at the other end of Twofold Bay in 'Boydtown', not realising that this building - the Seahorse Inn - had its own strange past as well. 

My first stop in Eden was the above memorial to those from the town who died in service to Australia during our 20th century wars. In travelling across Australia the one thing I've noticed that consistently appears in rural and coastal communities is some kind of ANZAC memorial, evidence of a shared cultural identity that goes beyond our media. Eden's pristine monument to the soldiers sits high up on the town's summit near its churches.  

I took this photograph because it mentions the little-spoken about Malayan War. I can't recall seeing many war monuments that make reference to this conflict and our country's involvement in it.

Mary MacKillop Hall was once a schoolhouse that was built following the death of MacKillop's mother, Flora MacKillop. Saint Mary visited the schoolhouse twice, in 1899 and 1901, out of appreciation for the care that the town of Eden demonstrated in recovering her mother's body after she was lost at sea. 

Flora MacKillop was one of 71 lives infamously lost during the wreck of the Ly-ee-Moon, a former opium transport steamship from China that broke up during a storm off nearby Green Cape in 1886.

The inside of the Hall remains a shrine to Mary MacKillop, who was canonised by the Catholic Church as Australia's first (and so far only) saint in 2010. Catholic-Australians make the pilgrimage here to pay their respects. I know this is true because I saw some.

  

The view outside of Mary MacKillop Hall is quite breathtaking.

The Eden Killer Whale Museum is one of the main attractions in Eden and features two storeys of whaling-related local history. While Nicole and I visited we saw at least 50 other people in there, making this one of the busiest 'local history' museums I have ever seen.  

The centrepiece of the museum is 'Old Tom', the alpha Killer Whale who assisted Eden whalers in their brutal hunting of baleen whale species (predominantly Southern Right and Humpback Whales, and the occasional Blue Whale) in the early 20th century. The local narrative is one of Old Tom and a pod of five other Killer Whales attaching themselves to Eden's whaling families to help them kill the bigger whales. The story says that these Orcas would round up and harry the larger baleen whales into range of the harpoons. The bigger whales would then be killed by the humans and left to Old Tom and his pod, who would rip off the whale's lips and tongue and take them deep under the surface for feasting upon (these organs are huge and are all the Killer Whales were interested in). Such was Old Tom's eagerness and intelligence that he would swim into Twofold Bay to meet the humans early in the morning and grab the ropes of their boats, dragging them out to where the baleen whales could be found.

It's the only known case of Killer Whales working with humans in this way. In 1930, Old Tom was found dead and floating in the bay - he had apparently come in to Twofold Bay to die near the human community there. His massive 7 metre-long skeleton was salvaged and preserved, and the Killer Whale Museum grew around him as the whaling industry in Eden disappeared. He remains as a terrifying ode to a dark past, the teeth on one side of his skull filed down from the wear of the rope he would grasp between his jaws.

Nicole was less interested in the museum than I was.

There is a section of the museum dedicated to Eden's original inhabitants, the Thaua people, however, I couldn't help but think a bigger acknowledgement of their history could have been made. The reason behind the extraordinary behaviour of the Killer Whales of this area is most likely tied to the Thaua, who had a special relationship with the Killer Whales that stretched back thousands of years. In the Thaua language these animals were referred to as 'beowas', which translates as 'brothers'. All of the whaling families in Eden 'employed' local Aboriginal men to work their boats in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Scrimshaw is the art of engraving objects out of ivory or whale bone. The ornate figures above demonstrate the intricacy of this disturbing art.

The parking demarcations outside of the Killer Whale Museum demonstrate the town's maritime heritage in a fun way. 

Further out of Eden, The Blue Wren Cafe sources the vast majority of its food onsite, demonstrating the 'slow food' ethos associated with lessening one's carbon footprint. This cafe is part of Potoroo Palace, an animal sanctuary located a few kilometres north of Pambula. The park is predominantly known for its care and healing of rescued Australian animals, and for a potoroo-breeding program that supplies these little macropods to wildlife parks all around the country.

This is Trevor, a rescued Brush Tail Possum who is quite happy to move around in the day if there's weetbix and carrot in it for him.

The sanctuary has a collection of Emus that have been raised from chicks. They are currently 4 years old and some of them have had to be separated because they've taken to fighting each other. The picture above shows two Emus that kept running over to the fence to kick at the bird on the other side. The solitary Emu on the right was nonchalant and calm the whole time, pretending that he wasn't fazed by the aggression of the two bullies.

Nicole and I also ducked up to Bega to check out the cheese factory. The upper floor of the Bega Heritage Centre featured a range of dairy-related historical paraphernalia and an animatronic cow that just shook loudly rather than actually moving.  

There was also this weird eight-legged cow. The cheese of the future? I'm thinking this genetically-modified monstrosity could be called 'the Bovine Centipede'.

I have to say that I wasn't completely sold on the Bega cheese experience. It's not like they have an amazingly large range - they know what they do well and they've stuck to it, growing a nationally-recognised brand and no doubt boosting the economy of the surrounding town - but I'm just not a huge fan of their cheese. That said, they did have some canned cheese that they use for international export, which was mildly interesting. 

Another view of Twofold Bay. Note the mountains and forest in the distance - this area is not very densely populated at all. 

The pictures above show Seahorse Inn, our accommodation. This elaborate castle-like building was constructed in 1843 just a few kilometres south of Eden in 'Boydtown'. It was envisioned by British stockbroker Benjamin Boyd as the first part of a whole new town and business empire, which he dreamt would become the future capital of the New South Wales colony. He built the Seahorse Inn, a nearby church (which burned down 50 years later in a bushfire) and a privately-owned lighthouse a few more kilometres south (modestly called 'Boyd Tower'). 

To get to Boyd Tower you need to drive another twenty minutes south and then access the coastline via an unsealed road. From here it's a short walk out onto the escarpment. On our way out we saw a shy and diminutive Swamp Wallaby watching us from between two trees; evidence of how forgotten this part of the world seems. As we got closer to the end of the bluff we spotted the tower rising up out of the bushland like some ancient, half-hidden ruin. 

Boyd wanted his tower to serve as a lighthouse, but the government wouldn't sign off on its use so it became a lookout to assist in spotting whales for the local whaling industry.  

Like the Seahorse Inn and much else of the would-be capital city, Boyd's Tower was built from an expensive form of sandstone that was brought all the way down from Sydney rather than sourced more locally. Boyd also resorted to using slave labour via the highly dubious practise of 'blackbirding', in which Islanders were kidnapped and brought to Australia as indentured workers. Despite his ambition and apparent ruthlessness, Boyd's empire collapsed in financial ruin and failure before he could attract settlers. By the late 1840s he had run off to California to try and make his fortune in the great American gold rush. 

The tower remains as a sign of his folly.

Ironically though, just a few hundred metres from the Seahorse Inn, a collection of 15 upmarket coastal houses have sprung up in a little estate that started just a year ago. It's taken nearly 180 years but it looks like Boydtown is finally happening for real, complete with the name of the entrepreneur still attached.

Eden has a population of just over 3000 people and it's busiest time of year is the end of winter when whales can be regularly seen. The town has a siren that it sounds whenever these mighty creatures are spotted so that any locals or visitors can quickly get to a lookout or the beach. It's a curiously benign industry for a place that once teamed up with one of nature's most notorious predators to drive some of the world's biggest animals to the brink of extinction, and the community's rich history of ambition, shipwrecks, and whaling makes it a uniquely intriguing and vaguely macabre destination for the curious.