Fabrication of Aboriginal History

The Fabrication of

Aboriginal History

Volume One, Van Diemen’s Land 1803-1847

Keith Windschuttle

his is the first volume in a series that re-appraises the now widely accepted story about conflict between colonists and Aborigines in Australian history. Starting with Tasmania, and eventually covering the whole of the Australian mainland, the volumes find that the academic historians of the last thirty years have greatly exaggerated the degree of violence that occurred.

In a close re-examination of the primary sources used by historians, Keith Windschuttle concludes that much of their case is poorly founded, other parts are seriously mistaken, and some of it is outright fabrication.

Volume One is the most exhaustive analysis yet undertaken of relations between settlers and Aborigines from the time the British founded the colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1803. After re-examining all the historical and archival evidence, Keith Windschuttle concludes that, despite its infamous reputation, Van Diemen’s Land was host to nothing that resembled genocide or any attempt at it. Nor did the sporadic and limited conflict that occurred ever deserve the name ‘warfare’.

“Keith Windschuttle’s first volume on the fabrication of Aboriginal history is a scholarly masterpiece. It is destined to become an historical classic, changing forever the way we all look at the opening chapters of Australian history.” — Roger Kimball, The New Criterion, New York

Publication information:

Recommended retail price: $49.95 (inc.GST)

Hard cover, dust jacket, 472 pp, maps, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index

ISBN 1 876492 05 8

Publisher: Macleay Press, PO Box 477, Paddington NSW 2021, Australia

Telephone 61 2 9360 2534 Fax 61 2 9331 7368

Distributor: Wakefield Press, 1 The Parade West, Kent Town SA 5067

Telephone 61 8 8362 8800 Fax 61 8 8362 7592