From first contact with Macassans then Europeans, through two World Wars and beyond, Peter and Jay Read’s collection of stories stands as a unique record of Aboriginal accounts of the conflict and co-existence that have defined the flavour of the Territory.

During a year of travelling through the vastness of Australia's Northern Territory Peter and Jay Read stayed at remote settlements, interviewing dozens of Aboriginal men and women who could recall a time when outback Australia remained impenetrable to Whites. Now, these eye-witness acounts allow you to experience the conflicts as White settlers began to encroach upon Aboriginal territory: first encounters with gunfire, massacres at Hodgson Downs, Tipinpa, and Wajinpulungk, and the role of the black trackers and policemen. You can discover how Aboriginal people came to terms with White culture: the impact of tobacco, their work as miners and drovers, the contribution of Aboriginal servicemen during World War II, and the clash between Aboriginal and European law.

Please note that the three cassette tapes originally published with the book are not available in this eBook edition.

"I am delighted that this collection has at last become available to a wider audience. It was one of the first collections of Aboriginal oral history and remains one of the most important. It is a major contribution to Aboriginal — and to Australian — historiography." -- Professor Henry Reynolds