Dark Emu

"‘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 First Nations peoples. Contemporary evidence insists that First Nations 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 the concept further and challenges the hunter-gatherer tag as a convenient lie. 

Pages: 278, Paperback

Published: 2018