AustLit

'The book begins by looking at pre-colonial Aboriginal culture before going on to examine the impact of European occupation, especially on the Birrpai people of Port Macquarie and the Hastings region. The author then makes a considered assessment of the work of Thomas Dick, the Port Macquarie oyster farmer whose early 20th century photographs portraying traditional Birrpai life are internationally renowned. He provides biographical details of the Aboriginal people who collaborated with Dick in producing this remarkable collection of photographs and how they and their families fared in the decades following Dick's death in 1927.' (Publication summary)