Australian Aboriginal History (HIS2AAH / HIS3AAH)
Semester 2 / 2010

Texts

y separately published work icon Why Weren't We Told? : A Personal Search for the Truth about Our History Henry Reynolds , Ringwood : Viking , 1999 Z1184786 1999 single work non-fiction (taught in 7 units)

Why Weren't We Told? is a frank account of Henry Reynolds' personal journal towards the realisation that he, like generations of Australians, grew up with a distorted and idealised version of the past. From the author's unforgettable encounter in a North Queensland jail with injustice towards Aboriginal children, to his friendship with Eddie Mabo, to his shattering of the myths about our 'peaceful' history, this bestselling book will shock, move and intrigue. Why Weren't We Told? is crucial reading on the most important debate in Australia as we enter the twenty-first century.

y separately published work icon Aboriginal Australians : Black Response to White Dominance 1788-1980 Aboriginal Australians : A History Since 1788 Richard Broome , George Allen and Unwin , 1982 Z1575265 1982 single work (taught in 12 units)

'This book tells the history of Australia from the standpoint of the original Australians - those who lost most in our country's early colonial struggle for power. Surveying two centuries of Aboriginal-European encounters, it reveals what white Australia lost through unremitting colonial invasion and tells the story of Aboriginal survival through resistance and accommodation. It traces the continuing Aboriginal struggle to move from the margins of colonial society to a more central place in modern Australia.".

'Since its first appearance in 1982 and revision in 1994, Richard Broome's Aboriginal Australians has won a wide readership as a classic text on the history of race relations in Australia. Now fully updated to 2001, this new edition explains the land rights struggle since Mabo, the Hindmarsh Island affair, debates over the 'stolen generation', 'sorry' and reconciliation, and the recent experience of Aboriginal Australia. Aboriginal Australians remains the only concise and up-to-date survey of Aboriginal history since 1788.' (Taken from book jacket of 2002 edition.)

Description

In this subject students study two key regions of Australia's colonial past - New South Wales and/or Tasmania, the cradle of white settlement and the Northern Territory, Australia's last frontier - to explore indigenous/non-indigenous relations. The focus is on settler racial ideas and representations of Aborigines, and their efforts to reshape and control Aboriginal people through institutions and legislation, and also on continued Aboriginal accommodation of and resistance to such colonial pressure. Comparisons will emerge between these case studies to indicate the trajectories of Australia's colonial 'race' relations.

Assessment

one 1500-word interrelated individual assignment 30%

one 2500-word essay 50%

one 1000-word group assignment with a ten minute oral presentation 20%

Other Details

Offered in: 2009
Levels: Undergraduate
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