Book

I met this lovely and amazing lady yesterday at the allyship circle and I would like to help promote her book which is about her grandfather taken in after his family was massacred by a white man ... and worked for him for free. Hence the title Foster Father & Son or Slave Master and Slave.

I bought a copy but it will be published this autumn. Reduced cost for pre-sale $24.95 rather than $29.95

order @ https://davinabwoodsphd.com/

The beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and the mystery of Uluru captivates the world, making Australia a must visit tourist destination. It’s history, however, particularly the time of first contact between Aboriginal people and the British is not well known. Either by Australian’s or those interested from similar societies, such as Canada, the United States and Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The period of first contact was named ‘shared history’ by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (the Council). Shared History became the fourth of eight key issues to be addressed by the Council’s work in the 1990s. Our author Davina supported the work of the Council. However, Davina has also found that the shared history of Australia often divides opinion. Especially when little facts are known and understood. Each event needs to be put into context, from both sides. With the Aboriginal side often not being heard, let alone known or understood.

Always knowing and claiming her Aboriginality, Davina is the granddaughter of one of the two men whose lives are highlighted in this must-read book. Her research which she initially thought of as ‘family research’ began in the 1970s. When as a teenager studying Australian History at the North Brisbane College of Advanced Education, she asked herself; ‘Where is my Ancestral Country?’

Decades later as the research became a PhD thesis, she soon found herself exploring the answers to questions such as: ‘How did some Aboriginal people at the end of the 19^th century come to be living with the colonisers?’ ‘Why were Aboriginal children, moved from one coloniser household to another?’

Davina in conducting her research was not simply undertaking family research, but she has researched and written about Australia’s shared history. It is research that has highlighted some of the secrets of Australia’s shared history. In its own way, the book is truth-telling which has started many conversations that would otherwise never have taken place. It is relevant to answering today’s questions about recognition, and treaty. It must be read by all interested in Australia’s future.