Terrible Hard Biscuits

''A fine beginning for those intent on understanding the colonial past that shaped black and white Australia.'' - Richard Broome, author of Aboriginal Australians

Terrible Hard Biscuits introduces the main themes in the history of Aboriginal Australia: the complexity of Aboriginal-European relations since 1788, how Aboriginal identity and cultures survived invasion, dispossession and dislocation, and how indigenous Australians have survived to take their place in today''s society.

Each essay in Terrible Hard Biscuits has been chosen for the clarity of its writing and for its depth of understanding. The Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal authors range across Australia''s post-invasion history and their accounts focus on the more traditionally oriented communities in remote areas as well as on urban and fringe dwellers.

For twenty years the journal Aboriginal History has attracted the best writing on Australia''s Aboriginal past. Each essay in Terrible Hard Biscuits was selected from this journal to provide essential reading for students of Aboriginal studies and Australian studies. The chronological and geographic range of the contents will prove invaluable in surveying a crucial element of Australia''s past - and present.