Bain Attwood

Andrew Markus

The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights is the first book of its kind. Not only does it tell the history of the political struggle for Aboriginal rights in all parts of Australia; it does so almost entirely through a selection of historical documents created by the Aboriginal campaigners themselves, many of which have never been published. It presents Aboriginal perspectives of their dispossession and their long and continuing fight to overcome this. In charting the story of Aboriginal political activity from its beginnings on Flinders Island in the 1830s to the fight over native title today, this book aims to help Australians better understand both the continuities and the changes in Aboriginal politics over the last 150 years: in the leadership of the Aboriginal political struggle, the objectives of these campaigners for rights for Aborigines, their aspirations, the sources of their programmes for change, their methods of protest, and the outcomes of their protest. Through the words of Aboriginal activists, across 150 years, The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights charts the relationship between political involvement and Aboriginal identity.

A documentary history

The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights

Moshe Semyonov

Immigration and Nation Building examines a dilemma shared by Israel and Australia with many other countries: they are nations of immigrants, but continued immigration introduces fractures and inequalities that could undermine the sense of nationhood. Systematic comparisons across many dimensions help the reader to view each country s experience from a new perspective. The analyses here provide a solid basis for addressing the underlying policy questions: Whose Israel? Whose Australia? John R. Logan, Brown University, US This book provides a comprehensive perspective on the role of immigration in nation building. It does so not only through the demographic change that migration brought about, but by revealing how immigration impacted on major spheres of life in both Australia and Israel. The central focus on the comparative perspective makes this book distinctive. Rather than providing parallel stories of two societies, the chapters are structured in a way that specifically fleshes out similarities and differences in major areas of immigration policy and immigrant incorporation. It should appeal to students of international migration as well as those interested more directly in understanding Australian and Israeli societies. Noah Lewin-Epstein, Tel Aviv University, Israel This is a concise yet comprehensive analysis of the role of immigration in the nation building of Australia and Israel. With contributions by leading scholars and a thoughtful examination of recent data and research the book provides an important contribution to the study of immigration in each society, while also convincingly demonstrating the benefits of comparative cross-national analysis. It deserves to be widely read by social scientists and others who are interested in the factors that have shaped Australian and Israeli societies and who also want to understand how immigration continues to be central to their future development. Mark Western, The University of Queensland, Australia This insightful study explores the growth of the two largest post-industrial immigrant nations since the Second World War Australia and Israel. Almost one in four Australians were born outside the country, more than one in three Israelis. Immigration and Nation Building brings a comparative approach to the discussion of patterns of immigration, legal structures, the labour market, civil society, public opinion, and integration of the second generation. The result is a thought provoking analysis of the distinctive and universal in the development of two immigrant nations. By comparing the experiences of these two countries, this ground-breaking study of immigration and its impact will appeal to policy analysts and researchers in government and academia, as well as students in the areas of sociology, politics, economics and history.

Australia and Israel Compared

Immigration and Nation Building

In 1928, after a white man was killed, a punitive party mounted a series of attacks on Aborigines northwest of Alice Springs. The party's leader admitted that 31 Aborigines were killed. One missionary in the area put the toll at 70; another at as many as 100. Since 1911, the administration of the Northern Territory had been the direct responsibility of the Commonwealth. In placing this event and others within the context of policies pursued by the national government, Governing Savages reveals how policies of brutality and calculated neglect bequeathed a bitter legacy to subsequent generations.

Governing Savages

Most non-Indigenous Australians know of Charles Perkins. Many are familiar with a few other Aboriginal leaders. Yet few have heard of William Cooper, one of the most important Aboriginal leaders in Australia's history. "Thinking Black" tells the story of Cooper and the Australian Aborigines' League, and their campaign for Aboriginal people's rights. Through petitions to government, letters to other campaigners and organisations, and entreaties to friends and well-wishers, the book reveals their passionate struggle against dispossession and displacement, the denial of rights, and their fight to be citizens in their own country. Bain Attwood and Andrew Markus document the circumstances behind the most significant moments in Cooper's political career -- his famous 1933 petition to King George V, his call for a 'Day of Mourning' in 1938, the walk-off from Cummeragunja in 1939 and his opposition to an Aboriginal regiment in 1939. It explores the principles Cooper drew on in his campaigning, not least his 'Letter from an Educated Black', surely one of the most intriguing political testaments by an Australian leader. "Thinking Black" sheds new light on the history of what it has meant to be Aboriginal in modern Australia. It reveals the rich and varied cultural traditions, both Aboriginal and British, religious and secular, that have informed Aboriginal people's battle for justice, and their vision of equality in Australia of two peoples: equal yet distinct.

Andrew Markus

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