'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)