Good Country

Beyond the generalisations of national and colonial history, what can we know about how Aboriginal nations interacted with the British settlers who invaded their country, the men appointed by the imperial and colonial governments to protect them, and each other? Bain Attwood makes a major contribution to our knowledge of this period with his superbly researched, finely grained local history of the Djadja Wurrung people of Central Victoria. The story tells of destruction, decimation and dispossession, but it is not one of unceasing conflict. Concepts such as the frontier and resistance emerge as inadequate in this context. Drawing on an unusually rich historical record, Attwood explores the modus vivendi the Djadja Wurrung reached with sympathetic protectors, pastoralists and gold diggers, showing how they both adopted and adapted to these intruders in their own country, at least for a time. Finally, drawing past and present together, Attwood relates the remarkable story of the revival of the Djadja Wurrung in recent times as they have sought to become their own historians.