ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANA

This is the story of the dreadful secret conflict which lasted twelve long years from 1788 until 1802. It is the story of an extraordinary man, Pemulwuy, the leader of the Eora people, who lived in the area that is now occupied by the city of Sydney. Pemulwuy was a man who used his life as a weapon to fight an impossible war with a savage enemy from the other side of the world. He led his people in the first major response to the British invasion. At the time, the British not only attempted to destroy him and his people, they also attempted to obliterate the very evidence of his existence. Eric Willmot, a prominent member of the Australian Aboriginal community, reveals the dark story of those years of conflict and of those early years of conflict and of Pemulwuy, the rainbow warrior, who became the first Australian patriot.
Two remarkable Australians who fought and gave their lives against an invader. The first is Pemulwuy who lived in Australia in the last half of the 18th century. Pemulwuy means earth, man of the earth. He was borned around 1756 and died in 1802. He was the rainbow warrior who led the resistance between 1970 and 1802. The second is Charles Nelson Perkins whose spirit and determination are the essence of modern Australia’s identity.

This is the story of one of Australia’s first true heroes, Pemulwuy. A proud and feared Aboriginal warrior, Pemulwuy leads an uncompromising twelve-year war against British colonial oppression and makes the supreme sacrifice in order to guide his people to safety. Many histories of Australia start with the First Fleet and the hard times the colonists had with the climate and unruly convicts. Very few mention what really happened, or the blood that was spilled in the wars rarely spoken of. Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man, unites the neighbouring peoples, runaway convicts, bushrangers and an escaped African known as Black Caesar, in a guerilla war that pushes the invading English to the brink. This novel was conceived out of Pemulwuy’s legend and the historical events between 1788 and 1802. It is a story that all Australians should know.
314 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm ABORIGINAL STUDIES #0516R/0220/1020/210122/120522/050922 (Gift inscription on half-title)