The Biggest Estate on Earth

How Aborigines made Australia

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book The Biggest Estate on Earth by Bill Gammage, Allen & Unwin
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bill Gammage ISBN: 9781742693521
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Publication: October 1, 2011
Imprint: Allen & Unwin Language: English
Author: Bill Gammage
ISBN: 9781742693521
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication: October 1, 2011
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Language: English

Explodes the myth that pre-settlement Australia was an untamed wilderness revealing the complex, country-wide systems of land management used by Aboriginal people. Across Australia, early Europeans commented again and again that the land looked like a park. With extensive grassy patches and pathways, open woodlands and abundant wildlife, it evoked a country estate in England. Bill Gammage has discovered this was because Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and scientific fashion than we have ever realised. For over a decade, Gammage has examined written and visual records of the Australian landscape. He has uncovered an extraordinarily complex system of land management using fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year. We know Aboriginal people spent far less time and effort than Europeans in securing food and shelter, and now we know how they did it. With details of land-management strategies from around Australia, The Biggest Estate on Earth rewrites the history of this continent, with huge implications for us today. Once Aboriginal people were no longer able to tend their country, it became overgrown and vulnerable to the hugely damaging bushfires we now experience. And what we think of as virgin bush in a national park is nothing of the kind.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Explodes the myth that pre-settlement Australia was an untamed wilderness revealing the complex, country-wide systems of land management used by Aboriginal people. Across Australia, early Europeans commented again and again that the land looked like a park. With extensive grassy patches and pathways, open woodlands and abundant wildlife, it evoked a country estate in England. Bill Gammage has discovered this was because Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and scientific fashion than we have ever realised. For over a decade, Gammage has examined written and visual records of the Australian landscape. He has uncovered an extraordinarily complex system of land management using fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year. We know Aboriginal people spent far less time and effort than Europeans in securing food and shelter, and now we know how they did it. With details of land-management strategies from around Australia, The Biggest Estate on Earth rewrites the history of this continent, with huge implications for us today. Once Aboriginal people were no longer able to tend their country, it became overgrown and vulnerable to the hugely damaging bushfires we now experience. And what we think of as virgin bush in a national park is nothing of the kind.

More books from Allen & Unwin

Cover of the book The Ambitions of Jane Franklin by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Infernal Triangle by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book In My Mother's Hands by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Who Killed Scott Guy? by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Jack's Journey by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Bean's Gallipoli by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Market Blues by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book My Friend Tertius by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book All the Way to W.A. by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book A Different Inequality by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Understanding the Science of Food by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Being Here by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Gallipoli by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book True Crime and Punishment: Heists by Bill Gammage
Cover of the book Salt Grill by Bill Gammage
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy