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Review: Young Dark Emu

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For those of you who are not familiar with Dark Emu , this younger reader rendition by Bruce Pascoe will soon bring you up to speed. Young Dark Emu: A Truer History not only depicts Australia’s pre-European colonisation, it gently prompts school-aged readers to consider a different version of this history. It’s a common, long-held (mis)conception that Aboriginal Australians were a nomadic people living serendipitous lives at the mercy of the land and its inhospitable climate; views that often equate to an uncivilised, lowly race incapable of sustaining long term civilisation. It turns out, nothing could be further from the truth. Using documented, personal eyewitness accounts secured from the records and diaries of the first European explorers and settlers, Pascoe reveals the true nature of Australia’s Indigenous occupants. It’s a fair dinkum coin flip for this information documents the numerous ingenious ways Aboriginals not only harnessed the best qualities of the land