'Since white settlement, the history of the traditional owners of the south-west remains largely untold. Existing histories tend to represent the Noongar people as passive victims of colonisers and governments; it is all too easy to assume that theirs is little more than one of attempted assimilation, separation and state intrusion. Noongars are rarely represented as active survivors - as people who retained their traditional ways and country in the face of policies aimed at eliminating all aspects of their heritage.
Originally titled 'Applicants Historical Report' and prepared as expert evidence in the native title case known as the Single Noongar Claim, this book analyses the historiography and associated anthropology of the south-west. Coupled with Noongar oral history, it examines the survival of Noongar tradition, law and custom, proving that many of the most common misconceptions regarding the disappearance of Noongar culture have no basis in fact.' [Source: Publisher's blurb]
Anna Haebich investigates how the West Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs archives (1898-1972) have been utilised by Indigenous writers/researchers.
'On 19 September 2006 Justice Wilcox of the Federal Court declared that the Noongar people of south-west Western Australia held native title over Perth. It was a stunning decision. For the first time, the enduring connection of an Indigenous group to a metropolitan area was recognised in a Court proceeding. It seemed that the myth of cultural destruction in the settled south was finally upended. The euphoric claimants shed tears of joy.' (Introduction)
'On 19 September 2006 Justice Wilcox of the Federal Court declared that the Noongar people of south-west Western Australia held native title over Perth. It was a stunning decision. For the first time, the enduring connection of an Indigenous group to a metropolitan area was recognised in a Court proceeding. It seemed that the myth of cultural destruction in the settled south was finally upended. The euphoric claimants shed tears of joy.' (Introduction)
Anna Haebich investigates how the West Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs archives (1898-1972) have been utilised by Indigenous writers/researchers.
