Hiding the bodies: the myth of the humane colonisation of Aboriginal Australia

Abstract

How many Aboriginal people died as a result of European colonisation of Australia? In this decade of historic milestones both imaginary and real — the new millennium, the series of bicentenaries of white settlement in various parts of Australia and the cente nary of Federation — it is a curious fact that one of the most heated Australian debates surrounds the question of the extent of Aboriginal deaths, particularly violent deaths, in colonial Australia. It is being alleged that Australian historians of Aboriginal affairs consciously distort history for political or ideological purposes or, if they don't, that they have been 'duped' by those who do. Yet the question that must be asked is whether these critics are themselves doing exactly that — distorting history for ideolog ical purposes with the intention of influencing the direction of historical scholarship and, ultimately, policy-making on Aboriginal issues.