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Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture
Paperback / softback
Main Details
Title |
Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture
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Authors and Contributors |
By (author) Bruce Pascoe
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Physical Properties |
Format:Paperback / softback | Pages:278 | Dimensions(mm): Height 210,Width 135 |
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Category/Genre | Australia, New Zealand & Pacific history Economic history |
ISBN/Barcode |
9781921248016
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Classifications | Dewey:599.989915 |
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Audience | |
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Publishing Details |
Publisher |
Magabala Books
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Imprint |
Magabala Books
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Publication Date |
1 June 2018 |
Publication Country |
Australia
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Description
'Dark Emu injects a profound authenticity into the conversation about how we Australians understand our continent...[It is] essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what Australia once was, or what it might yet be if we heed the lessons of long and sophisticated human occupation.' - Judges for 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating, and storing - behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag. Gerritsen and Gammage in their latest books support this premise but Pascoe takes this further and challenges the hunter-gatherer tag as a convenient lie. Almost all the evidence in Dark Emu comes from the records and diaries of the Australian explorers, impeccable sources. Bruce's comments on his book compared to Gammage's: 'My book is about food production, housing construction and clothing, whereas Gammage was interested in the appearance of the country at contact. [Gammage] doesn't contest hunter gatherer labels either, whereas that is at the centre of my argument.'
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