A Journey Travelled

Book excerpt: A Journey Travelled is a pivotal Australian story long overdue for the telling: how Aboriginal and European people interacted with each other following Britain's territorial invasion in 1826, as well as its ongoing presence for the next 100 years. There has been a wealth of documentary and oral history available to researchers prepared to write from a local history perspective, yet very few Australian historians have accepted this challenge. What has been lacking until quite recently is the sense among historians and the general Australian public that the history of Aboriginal-European relations - not only for the first few years of contact, but for a period of many decades - is central to the nation's story. This extraordinary situation persisted, with very few exceptions, until the intense cultural and political foment that occurred throughout the Western world during the 1960s inevitably impacted the history departments of Australian universities. For the first time, Australians were confronted by the reality of their past as the old reluctance to write about the history of Aboriginal-European relations came to an abrupt end. As a very readable history on a topic that is of relevance to all Australians, A Journey Travelled examines the topic from the vantage point of the town of Albany and the wider Great Southern region of Western Australia, bringing a unique story to life. The book contains maps and images, including early photos of Menang men and women, as well as appendices regarding seasonal cycles, land cleared for agriculture, Western Australian tribal boundaries, and more. [Subject: History, Aboriginal Studies, Australian Studies, European Studies]