Melbourne University Salutes ‘a gentleman, a political activist and a scholar.’
All in Aboriginal Agriculture
How Low Can Three Writers Go in Misleading our Children with Their Re-writing of our Aboriginal History?
Are ‘The Three Amigo’s’ From ‘Down South’ on a Mission to Lay the Groundwork for Aboriginal Sovereignty? Will they stop at Nothing?
We loved Bruce Pascoe’s “Dark Emu” story - until we had doubts that maybe it was mostly just that - a “story”.
Innocent transcription errors or wilful attempts to slant the narrative? Read our review and critique and you decide!
Aboriginal Grain Farmers? - Well Maybe Not
No truly agricultural society can be based on native grain species that grow abundantly in wet years, but will not grow in dry years. Settled, Aboriginal ‘farmer’ societies would not have survived Australia’s ruthless swings from droughts to floods.
How Low Can a Writer Go in Re-writing our Colonial History?
Fact checking of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, leaves the author open to a serious accusation of deliberately hiding evidence.
Did the Dutch Teach Aborigines How to Cultivate Yams?
Were Dutch survivors of the Batavia wreck responsible for introducing yam agriculture to the Aborigines?
Mr Pascoe is Full-Steam Ahead - No Stooking Here!
Innocent transcription errors or wilful attempts to slant the narrative? Read our review and critique and you decide!
Fact Checking of Mr Pascoe's Grain Stores
Is Mr Pascoe describing a real Aboriginal grain store or constructing a hypothetical, idealised one?
Bogan Picks and the Case of the Missing Hoe
Another case of Cultural Appropriation? Torres Strait Islanders had agriculture, but Australian Aborigines did not.
Mr Pascoe’s ‘Hoes’, 'Megafauna Butchering Tools' or a Simple Pounding Tool? - It’s your Bogan Pick
A 1 metre Bogan pick so large you can’t lift it above your waist.
Really?
Mr Pascoe’s ‘Stone Hoes’ - But Wait There Are More
If the Aborigines really had ‘stone ploughs’ to till and cultivate their crops, why weren’t hundreds found, complete with their wooden handles?
Mr Pascoe's Imaginary Aboriginal Irrigation Schemes
The few, recorded Aboriginal dams were constructed to conserve flood waters for drinking water, not to irrigate crops.
Professor W.E.H. Stanner and The Selectivity of Mr Pascoe’s Scholarship
Mr Pascoe’s Selectivity Bias – Just ignore the Facts that don’t fit the Narrative
Real Examples of Non-farming Aboriginals
There is abundant, authenticated evidence of the Aboriginal Hunter-Gatherer society. But you may need to put on your ‘Rose-Coloured-Glasses’ to find the “evidence” of Mr Pascoe’s Aboriginal Agriculture!
Where are the Coconuts?
Why weren’t there any coconut plantations in Aboriginal Australia?
We Respond to a Reader's Comments on our Critique of Mr Pascoe's Dark Emu.
The Six Main Centres of Pre-historic Agricultural Society - And the Australian Continent Wasn’t One of Them
Tommy McRae - The Aboriginal Source
Don’t trust the Imperial British Version of our history? Let’s see what a contemporary Aboriginal had to say.
Why No Agriculture? Maybe it was due to Aboriginal Fundamentalism?
Did Aboriginal Blasphemy Laws Snuff Out Any Agricultural Advances by Aboriginal Women?
No Domesticated Plants or Animals? Then No Agriculture or Husbandry
Despite opportunities to adopt an agrarian lifestyle, Aborigines chose to remain as Hunter Gatherers. This is neither right nor wrong, but was their own social and economic choice. Their agency should not be up for re-appropriation.
Whose Theory Do We Believe? - Mr Bruce Pascoe's or Mr Jared Diamond's?
The New Dark Emu : “Pascoe puts forward a compelling argument for the understanding that pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians were on a trajectory from their hunter-gatherer existence towards food production and agriculture within the next 3000 years. The evidence shows that the first beginnings of an agricultural way of life were starting in isolated parts of the continent. It is the story of mankind and a story that we will all admire and find fascinating as Australians."