Ann Curthoys is an Australian historian who has written on many aspects of Australian history. Her many books include Freedom Ride: A Freedom Rider Remembers (2002), which won the Stanner Prize from the Australian Institute of indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Studies, was 'Highly Commended' for Non-Fiction in the Australian Human Rights awards and was shortlisted for the Centre for Australian Cultural Studies Award for Non-Fiction. Jessie Mitchell holds a Ph.D. in history from the Australian National University, where she won the Australian Historical Association's Serle Award for the best Ph.D. thesis. She also won the John Barrett Award for Australian Studies for her article ''The galling yoke of slavery': race and separation in colonial Port Philip', which appeared in the Journal of Australian Studies.

• Introduction: how settlers gained self-government and indigenous people (almost) lost it; Part I. A Four-Cornered Contest: British Government, Settlers, Missionaries and Indigenous Peoples: 1. Colonialism and catastrophe: 1830; 2. 'Another new world inviting our occupation': colonisation and the beginnings of humanitarian intervention, 1831–1837; 3. Settlers oppose indigenous protection: 1837–1842; 4. A colonial conundrum: settler rights versus indigenous rights, 1837–1842; 5. Who will control the land? Colonial and imperial debates 1842–1846; Part II. Towards Self-Government: 6. Who will govern the settlers? Imperial and settler desires, visions, utopias, 1846–1850; 7. 'No place for the sole of their feet': imperial-colonial dialogue on Aboriginal land rights, 1846–1851; 8. Who will govern Aboriginal people? Britain transfers control of Aboriginal policy to the colonies, 1852–1854; 9. The dark side of responsible government? Britain and indigenous people in the self-governing colonies, 1854–1870; Part III. Self-Governing Colonies and Indigenous People, 1856–c.1870: 10. Ghosts of the past, people of the present: Tasmania; 11. 'A refugee in our own land': governing Aboriginal people in Victoria; 12. Aboriginal survival in New South Wales; 13. Their worst fears realised: the disaster of Queensland; 14. A question of honour in the colony that was meant to be different: Aboriginal policy in South Australia; Part IV. Self-Government for Western Australia: 15. 'A little short of slavery': forced Aboriginal labour in Western Australia 1856–1884; 16. 'A slur upon the colony': making Western Australia's unusual constitution, 1885–1890; Conclusion.

'This is the first book to get to grips not only with how settlers in the Australian colonies gained powers of self-government, but how those powers were comprehended, experienced and resisted by Aboriginal Australians. Rigorously researched and compellingly narrated, this is one book that everyone with an interest in settler colonialism must read.' Alan Lester, University of Sussex and La Trobe University, Melbourne