Terra Nullius

by Unknown Author

Long before the term 'genocide' was coined, the British colonization of Australia had decimated around nine-tenths of the continent's original Aboriginal population. The establishment of a white Australia relied on the legal fiction of 'terra nullius' - no one's land - claiming that Aboriginal lands were inhabited by people who were dying out and could be hastened on their way if they lingered. Renowned author Sven Lindqvist, in 'Terra Nullius', traverses 7,000 miles of Australia, uncovering a shocking history where beliefs in white superiority and the annihilation of 'lower races' were practiced. He reveals stories of young boys kidnapped for pearl diving, half-caste children separated from their mothers, and natives misdiagnosed and sent to internment camps. Lindqvist also explores the work of ethnologists who studied Aborigines through biased lenses, influencing Freud and Durkheim. Simultaneously, he paints a picture of a beautiful, strange, and sacred land, rich in symbolic art, inhabited by native people for centuries. 'Terra Nullius' is a moving travelogue and a powerful historical excavation, telling the disturbing tale of how no man's land became the domain of the white man.

320 pages, Library Binding

Published September 11, 2018

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