Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe
A wonderfully thought-provoking journey into indigenous farming and social structure based around the existence of agriculture, farming and social village-style living in pre-1788 Indigenous Australian culture.
In Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe challenges the fundamental conception that Australia’s Traditional Owners lived solely as hunter-gatherers and instead produces a compelling argument that Indigenous Australia was one of social structure, village-type living and had established agriculture and food systems that linked Indigenous communities the length and breadth of the country.
Pascoe produces evidence-based arguments that Indigenous Australians built houses, sustainably farmed, harvested, preserved and saved cereals, grains, and seeds – even baking cakes and bread, built complex systems in fresh and salt water aquaculture and systematically farmed terrestrial fauna such as kangaroos using stone battues, systematic hunting and harvesting and fire management for feed and mustering.
This book brings together a vast range of evidence from archeological history, accounts from pioneer and explorer journals and spoken indigenous history to paint a very different picture of pre-1788 Australia.
This one is a real must-read.
For the next little while LPLN Facilitator, Danny, will be featuring resources aimed to inspire.
Stay tuned every here or on the facebook page Wednesday and Friday for another resource off the shelf.