Nexus - 1606 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

THE BONE READERS by Claudio Tuniz, Richard Gillespie & Cheryl Jones Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2009 ISBN 978-1-74114-728-5 (256pp tpb) Available: www.allenandunwin.com Tr prehistory of Australia and its geographical region is a controversial subject. Here, the authors (Prof. Tuniz, a geochronology expert; Dr Gillespie, an authority on bone-dating; Ms Jones, a science journalist) discuss cross-disciplinary scientific developments against a backdrop of the politics and personalities involved, both in Australia and abroad. In the first section, Landfall, they examine findings on dating the arrival and presence of Aboriginal people in Australia, and show how studies of strata and tree rings as well as different dating techniques are fine-tuning our understanding but are often still coming up with divergent explanations. Next, in Extinction, they dwell on the vexed issue of the demise of Australia's megafauna and what part the indigenous people may have played in it. They also consider the role of asteroid and comet impacts. Finally, in Origins, they cover the "gene wars", arguments about human evolution and mitochondrial DNA, the REVIEWS @ REVIEWS discovery of the tiny "Hobbit" species on Flores, and comparisons between modern man and Neanderthals. The Bone Readers is a fascinating summary of some of the great quandaries of our time, interspersed with revelations that heated debate and mud-slinging are part and parcel of the progress of science. With the Rudd Labor government's apology to the original landowners and the Stolen Generations in 2008, here's hope that the wrongs of the past are being righted, but there's a ong way to go, especially when uranium mining companies are still rying to desecrate native lands and decimate their peoples. For her landmark book, Roberts delved into historical records and ived and worked with Aboriginal ribal groups to get a perspective on waves of invasion by colonists, missionaries, pastoralists, miners and foresters. This is a story of genocide, racism, rape, pillage, discrimination, poverty, disease, betrayal and the dispossession of a beautiful people intricately linked to their land and the spirit world. MASSACRES TO MINING by Jan Roberts Impact Investigative Media Productions, UK, 1978-2008 ISBN 978-0-9559177-1-4 (I98pp tpb) Available: www.janineroberts.com hen this book was first published in the UK in 1978, it did much to make the international audience aware of the appalling reatment Australia's Aborigines have been subjected to since the beginning of British colonisation 200 years before (and indeed, since the Dutch tried to set up a mine in 1606). he 1981 Australian edition as well as a film raised awareness at home. Author Jan Roberts (Glitter & Greed, 6/05) has now republished Massacres ‘0 Mining with new forewords. In hers, she makes it clear that from 1996 the Howard Liberal government went out of its way to try to "claw back" the native title rights won by Aboriginal groups in 1992 in the High Court. NEXUS ¢ 71 OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com