Telling the Truth About Aboriginal History

by Bain Attwood

This provocative work grapples with some of the most difficult issues in Aboriginal history, showing how they raise fundamental concerns about the nature of historical knowledge, truth, and authority. Discussions of such controversial questions as How many Aboriginal people were killed in frontier conflict and was it genocide? Was there ever a massacre at Risdon Cove in Tasmania? and Does Aboriginal oral history count as real history? attempt to shed some light an Australia's historical make-up.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Bain Attwood is a professor of history at Monash University. He is the author of Empire and the Making of Native Title: Sovereignty, Property and Indigenous People, which compares Britain’s colonies in Australia and New Zealand. He holds both New Zealand and Australian citizenship.

Reviews

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attwood's "Telling the Truth About Aboriginal History" is in part a really decent, though short, overview of latter day Australian history studies, with an obvious focus on the primary issues and problems it faces now (of particularly interest to me was Attwood's exploration of oral history and the role of historical narratives in nations) and a clarification of many of the misnomers floating about what Australian historians are actually doing and saying (as opposed to what jumped up reactionaries think they're saying) in their work.

Of course part of that leads into the obligatory Keith Windschuttle bashing, although given the immense weight the media and political side of things placed on his "work" (mostly from the increasingly feral Murdoch press and the mostly non-historically trained "Howard's intellectuals"), that's kind of hard not to get into and let's face it - if you have any rational view of Australian history it's a little satisfying to see someone who for all intents and purposes is pretty bloody deluded get a boot stuck into him. However such treatment in this case is far from spiteful, in fact Attwood's regard for the integrity of historical studies basically leads to a restrained anger and is more focused on generally explaining and addressing his arguments in the context of the current state of historical studies.

Only really recommended for those who already have a bit of a grounding in Australian history and know most of the major players in regards to the Aboriginal side of things, even in a fragmentary capacity.

[Rdurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book thought-provoking. The writing is a bit clunky but the discussion of how we might treat Aboriginal history in the future is very interesting. I like his conclusions which are roughly:
+ reconciliation is a pipe-dream
+ there will always be difference between the Aboriginal and settler perspectives
+ we should allow the different views to co-exist while we work for common ground
+ history has to accommodate oral history and memory as well as traditional history
+ a treaty would be helpful
+ some form of national remembrance for the Aboriginal dead is required.

[Velvetink]

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