Why were we never told?
Why didn't we know?
Historian Henry Reynolds has found himself being asked these questions by many people, over many years, in all parts of Australia. The questions are always the same. Why weren't we told about the troubled history of relations with indigenous people? Why were we denied the truth? This is a frank account of Reynold's personal journey towards the realisation that he, like generations of Australians, grew up with a distorted and idealised version of the past - a vision of peaceful settlement. The reality, as this book reveals, is that the colonists and the original inhabitants fought a bloody war for more than 100 years. Aborigines were vital contributors to early colonial industries and, counter to contemporary notions of terra nullius, there was official recognition by authorities of Aborigines' rights to their land for most of the 19th century. Accessible and provocative, this book will shock, move and intrigue. Vital reading on the most critical debate in Australia at the end of the 20th century.
