Early in their book, Sutton and Walshe acknowledge that Dark Emu has made some positive contribution, including engendering interest in traditional ways of life; building awareness that conquest, slaughter and land theft was underpinned by an assumption of racial superiority; and drawing attention to earlier works that showed how Aboriginal people managed the land and its resources with fire and conservation. They see no harm in Pascoe criticising false beliefs, “perhaps held by some”, that all Aboriginal people were naked all of the time and that classical Aboriginal society consisted of a constantly nomadic people who simply lived off nature’s bounty, were not ecological agents, did not stay in one place for more than a few days and did not store resources.

Admirers of Dark Emu invariably refer to Pascoe’s persuasive use of the journals of explorers such as Thomas Mitchell and Charles Sturt. Sutton is less enamoured of them, questioning both the reliability of journals written by Europeans who encountered Aboriginal people only transiently and who were “the forward scouts for the army of land-hungry farmers who would come in their wake”, and Pascoe’s sharp editing of them. Where Pascoe quotes explorer Thomas Mitchell discovering grass that had been pulled and piled into “hay-ricks” that stretched for miles, for example, Pascoe suggests that Aboriginal people were practising an idyllic agriculture. But he leaves out Mitchell’s puzzlement about the purpose of these “ricks” and Mitchell’s later writing that all attempts to persuade Aboriginal people to till the ground had failed.

Pascoe records Mitchell’s astonishment on coming upon a large, deserted village during his Australia Felix expedition, which he estimated housed “over 1000” people. This, says Sutton, is “pure fiction”. “All Mitchell says is that his party ‘noticed some of their huts’; there is no mention of anyone counting anything.” Pascoe then quotes a member of Mitchell’s party, Granville Stapylton, as saying that the buildings “were of very large dimensions, one capable of containing at least 40 persons and of very superior construction”. But he omits Stapylton’s speculation that this was “the work of a white man”, probably the runaway convict William Buckley, who lived with the Wathaurong people for three decades.

Elsewhere, Pascoe cites Charles Sturt’s discovery of a large well and village somewhere north of Lake Torrens in South Australia, but neglects to say that Sturt saw no signs of recent occupation. When Sturt finds grass set out to dry and ripen, Pascoe guesses this was because of surplus grain, which suggested “sedentary agriculture”. Sutton ridicules the idea. “The suggestion, if that is what Pascoe intends, that anyone could practise ‘sedentary agriculture’ in that blasted desert environment is simply ill-informed,” he writes.

I always find it interesting how Gordon only ever quotes stuff that supports his Racist views of Indigenous Australians/Asians/Muslims/etc.  Never the full story.  Is it because he fears that it might actually demolish what he is claiming?

The truth don't give a damn what colour your paint job is or what religious belief you hold...

It isn't racist to point out contrary views... is Pascoe a racist for espousing views different from others?  Why the double standard?

Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Jun 12^th, 2021 at 1:43pm:


Why deny your Racism, Graps?   

Brian Ross wrote on Jun 12^th, 2021 at 2:00pm:


Why deny your undemocratic rigidity?

The thread is about a book repudiating another book, dickhead

Brian Ross wrote on Jun 12^th, 2021 at 2:00pm:


My point proven, Brian - you ideologues can't even accept a neutral stance such as asking if Pascoe is equally a racist for posing a different point of view.  Your intolerance is breathtaking.