Notes

164 pages : illustrations, maps Contents include: Uncertain siblings : Port Phillip and South Australia -- The legal rights of the Aborigines -- Classical economics measuring 'value' and re-defining property -- The humanitarian colonist: protecting and transforming the 'savage' -- Foundation histories Summary: Over a century before Mabo and generations before 'Terra Nullius', Aboriginal land rights were briefly acknowledge, sparked by the anti-slavery and humanitarian movements. In the push to colonise South Australia and Port Phillip, well intentioned people voiced humanitarian concerns about Indigenous dispossession. Good intentions were not enough, as settlers seized nearly 20 million acres of Aborigianl country. Voracious demand for land and lust for growth pushed the original owners of the land to the margins - offered "protection" and assimilation instead of recognition of their legal rights. In this book, Hannah Robert prises apart a key moment in Australia's history and reveals the machinations of colony and empire amid the turbulent confluence of ideas about "civilization", "property" and "the noble savage". (From back cover)