Sydney's Aboriginal Past : Investigating the archaeological and historical records

Sydney's Aboriginal Past : Investigating the archaeological and historical records
ISBN: 9781742231167
Publication Date: 1 April 2010

When the British First Fleet arrived in 1788, Sydney was home to numerous Aboriginal communities that had been living there for thousands of years. Within a year well over half the local population had succumbed to smallpox and, as the British colony expanded, loss of country and acts of aggression made their traditional way of life impossible.

This second edition of Sydney's Aboriginal Past draws on the latest historical, archaeological, geological, environmental and linguistic research, as well as oral evidence of present-day Aboriginal people, to reveal the diversity of Aboriginal life in the Sydney region before and during the first thirty years of British settlement.

Val Attenbrow describes the different Aboriginal groups and how they lived; the resources available; the foods they ate and their means of obtaining them; their tools, weapons and equipment, and how they were made; where they camped; their shelters, clothing and personal adornment; their beliefs, ceremonial life and rituals; as well as their designs and images.

This updated edition incorporates the results of recent archaeological excavations, including additional radiocarbon ages for pre-colonial Aboriginal sites, and new findings relating to the use of stone tools and the age of local rock art. An extensive 'Sites-to-visit supplement' includes information on where to find archaeological evidence of Sydney's Aboriginal past.