Cirrus@Austlit

'Making Australia's past available to the general public is an important, and all-too-often overlooked task of archaeologists. Gary Presland's book is one of the most ambitious attempts to write such a prehistory of one of Australia's largest cties—Melbourne. It is an attempt which has been partially successful.' (Introduction) 

'Colin Johnson, now writing full-time in Western Australia, was the first Aboriginal to publish a novel (WILDCAT FALLING, Sydney 1965). Since then, his further novels, LONG LIVE SANDAWARA (1979) and DOCTOR WOOREDDY' S PRESCRIPTION FOR ENDURING THE ENDING OF THE WORLD (1985) have consolidated his claim to be a highly important contributor not only to Aboriginal literature but, more widely, to that of the writing of indigenous colonized peoples everywhere. His new book proves him to be a poet, as well as a novelist, of his people, and a significant, energetic, and impassioned channel for the expression of their sorrow and rebellion.'  (Introduction)