Summary

An extract from the Introduction:

This book is a revisionist interpretation of Aboriginal-European relations (1843-1869) in a geographical area which was once the homeland of the Bindal and Juru peoples of North Queensland. The time span of just over a quarter of a century provides a sufficient chronological base upon which an examination and interpretation of Aboriginal-European interaction can be made. Prior to about 1859, the intermittent contact between Royal Navy hydrographers, explorers, castaways and Aboriginal Australians was one devoid of any desire to possess and subdue Aboriginal lands. The relationship, therefore, was essentially a friendly one, and the original inhabitants often accepted the Europeans as returned members of the Aboriginal dead. From 1859 onwards, the dynamics of contact changed: the white invasion of North Queensland was about to begin. Any likelihood of establishing a compromise with the Aborigines was vitiated within a decade by the same rigidity of thought and aggressiveness of action which had characterised the European conquest in the southern states. The year 1869 marked the end of several years of open warfare, and the Aborigines were "let in" to the stations and townships. One era had finished, but another - that of more intimate contact with the invaders' Christianity and capitalism - was beginning.

Revisionism was demanded because the existing interpretations were significant for what they lacked: an inside view - one which revealed the perspectives of the Aborigines who played a major role in the history of North Queensland. An interpretation was required which could synthesise the views of both peoples. This study has accepted that challenge.