Cirrus@Austlit

'Long before the horse and drays and later cars found their way into the high country of southeastern Australia, it was criss-crossed by ancient Aboriginal foot-tracks. This book describes how the pattern of pathways changed as explorers, stockmen, miners, and early recreational travellers struggled to open up this challenging terrain.

Dr Kabaila combines evidence from a great variety of sources, never before combined, to reveal this lost history. He draws on rare unpublished maps and explorers accounts, and on the oral history of Aboriginal peoples. He records many of the routes taken by Aboriginal moth hunters, residents of Aboriginal missions, and Europeans up to the 1940s, and explains the contexts in which these movements took place. He also shows how the major roads and mountain passes of today grew from these early pathways.' (Sourced: back cover)