AustLit

'The 1838 Myall Creek Massacre is remembered for the brutality of the crime committed by white settlers against innocent Aboriginal men, women and children, but also because eleven of the twelve assassins were arrested and brought to trial. Amid tremendous controversy, seven were hanged. Myall Creek was not the last time the colonial administration sought to apply the law equally to Aboriginal people and settlers, but it was the last time perpetrators of a massacre were convicted and hanged.

'Marking its 180th anniversary, this book explores the significance of one of the most horrifying events of Australian colonialism. Thoughtful and fearless, it challenges us to look at our history without flinching as an act of remembrance and reconciliation.' (Summary)

'Tasmanian Aborigines were driven off their land so white settlers could produce fine wool for the English textile mills. By the time Truganini died in 1876, they were considered to be extinct. Yet like so many other claims about them, this was wrong.'

'Far from disappearing, the Tasmanian Aborigines actively resisted settler colonialism from the outset and have consistently campaigned for their rights and recognition as a distinct people through to the present.'

'The author tells the story of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, from before the arrival of the first whites to current political agendas. Tasmania has been the cradle of race relations in Australia, and their struggle for a place in their own country offers insights into the experiences of Aboriginal people nation-wide.' (Source: Publishers website)

'A comprehensive account of the survival of Aborigines in Tasmania and an examination of their interaction with white settlers.'

'The extinction of the Tasmanian Aborigines has long been viewed as one of the great tragedies resulting from the British occupation of Tasmania. This book demonstrates that the Aborigines in Tasmania, although dispossessed, did not die out then or at any other period in Tasmania's history. Some eight thousand descendants remain today.'

'In examining the myth created by nineteenth-century historians and scientists that Aborigines could not survive invasion, Lyndall Ryan investigages the nature of that invasion, Aboriginal resistance, and white Tasmanian policies towards the Aborigines after dispossession.'

'The Aboriginal Tasmanians then follows the emergence of a new Aboriginal community outside the boundaries of white society yet denied Aboriginal identity. In this new edition, Lyndall Ryan explores the fortunes of the present day community in their quest for landrights and social justice.'

'Tasmania was the cradle of race relations in Australia in the nineteenth century. It retains this position on the 1990s. In telling the story of the Aboriginal Tasmanians' struggles for a place in their own ountry, Lyndall Ryan provides special insights into the past and present of Aboriginal people nation-wide.' (Source: Publisher's website)