'The debate about Land Rights legislation has quickened pace in the last two years with the holding of the Seam an inquiry in Western Australia, and with the release of the Labor Party's "preferred model" for Land Rights legislation. We present this issue of Australian Aboriginal Studies as a contribution to the debate.' (Editorial introduction)
Contents indexed selectively.
'In this paper I analyse one version of a set of narratives which I call the Captain Cook Saga. The Saga is an Aboriginal oral narrative which describes a set of historic and contemporary processes through which Aborigines have been deprived of land, autonomy, and self-sufficiency.' (Publication abstract)
'My grandparents came variously from Glasgow, Liverpool and the Isle of Man and arrived in Australia in the 1870s. I was born at Petersham in Sydney on 13 August 1905. At school I took a less than serious interest in lessons and had to go to night school when I left, an ironic beginning to my later life in a world of books, but my home life was a happy one about which I have no regrets.' (Introduction)
'The Killing Times is the story of the Coniston Massacre in Central Australia. During August and September 1928, scores of Aborigines were killed in reprisal for the murder of one white man and an attack upon another. The reprisals were led by Mounted Constable Murray, who was assisted by several settlers in the district, and three trackers. These events have received a good deal of recent publicity, principally in the course of Justice Toohey's 1982 Land Claim investigations and through a 1983 television film entitled 'A Shifting Dreaming'. The book's copyright, in fact, is owned by Cribbin and Imago films, which rather belies Cribbin's claim, 'This is not a book about a film. It does however owe its genesis to one'.' (Introduction)
'Hazel McKellar's book Matya-Mundu provides not only a valuable historic record of the south-west Queensland Aborigines, but stands as an incentive for other Aborigines to take an active part in presenting their history to the world the way they see it, in their own words.' (Introduction)
'Religion in Aboriginal Australia is a collection of nineteen papers by authors of a great many persuasions. None of the papers are new: all have been published previously, either as full articles or as sections of longer papers or books. The time-span over which the originals appeared is immense. The earliest date back to 1904, while the most recent made their appearance in 1981. Consequently, the book expresses a wide variety of viewpoints which reflect approximately eighty years of development in Aboriginal studies. Everything from nineteenth century historicism to contemporary feminism has affected the texts.' (Introduction)
'Like most of the Lardil Aboriginal people, Elsie Roughsey has a real desire to share the knowledge of her culture with other Australians. Elsie has spent her years observing life and thinking about its meaning and its lessons. Her reflections are above all else the reflections of a mother who is concerned about the world in which her children live. This book about Elsie's life, her knowledge and her observations, is quite unique, and will remain as a testament of what happened to Aborigines everywhere, as their culture was invaded by Europeans.' (Introduction)
