First Australians: An Illustrated History

The official companion book to a major nine-part television series broadcast on SBS TV, this account reveals the violent clash of culture, religion, and ideas at the heart of Australia’s history. Beginning with Aboriginal travelers landing on Australian shores around 70,000 BC and finishing with the pivotal 1967 Referendum, this account chronicles the fierce war with colonists, the bloody massacres, and the earliest civil rights movement the world had ever seen. Drawing on a rich collection of historic documents and haunting images, this Australian history brings to life a cast of characters including Bennelong, who was kidnapped by the British and became the first Australian to set foot on British soil; Truganini, known as the last Tasmanian, who was broken by the betrayal of her people; and Lieutenant Dawes, a British officer who defied the authority of the Empire by falling in love with a young Indigenous woman. Alive with colonial detailcorruption, mutinies, and pyrrhic victoriesthis is the story that gave birth to a nation.