Dark Emu

I've been sitting on this review for a while as I felt it wasn't exactly my place to give this book a rating - much like rating a biography, who am I to say if the story of such a persons life was good or bad? With Dark Emu I thought, how can I give a rating to the stories and way of life of Indigenous Australians? However, I have decided that I should at least give my thoughts on this brilliant book. This book was so educational and I really enjoyed reading and learning - no matter how disappointed I was that I had not been taught these things in school and the sheer volume of things I just did not know. I think this book should be one that all Australians read and should be in the school curriculum. It is incredibly well researched and the evidence presented makes you question how you didn't know all of this before (although we already know why). I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dark Emu and would highly recommend it.

A great read that tears apart simplistic definitions of “hunter-gatherers” vs “agriculturalist”.

There's some contention about accuracy - it does feel a little like Bruce might be overstretching himself trying to build a farming narrative - but separate to that it at leasts helps readers appreciate how Aboriginals treated the whole of Australia as their farm, cultivating it in simple-yet-complex ways on a scale larger and looser than we might imagine.

A fascinating reevaluation of our history, and one that provides a basis for further developing our own uniquely Australian identity.