I have just heard the most fabulous argumentation of how Aboriginal people managed country, dispelling the ever-touted racism-perpetuating rubbish that they just roamed around doing nothing.
Their farming principle was to create by fire and dams (!) a mosaic of grass patches and wooded, swampy and other habitat shelters for food animals, turning all of Australia into “The Biggest Estate on Earth”.
That’s the title of a book by Professor Bill Gammage of the Australian National University, which he explains in a talk you can access here (scroll down).
I am trying to obtain a transcript for posting later. Maybe someone reading this has dictation-transcribing or shorthand skills and can do it for us?
Aboriginal writer, Bruce Pasco, makes much the same points, though in much less detail, in his book, “Convincing Ground”.
