And a quick word of thanks. I am SO grateful to the editors at @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social and @oxfordunipress.bsky.social for their rigour & vision; grateful to Mariana Ariza for her wonderful maps; and grateful for Francis Young for his index-making skills

Please do ask your university or local library to order a copy to access it (& fingers crossed this will get the book to a more affordable paperback!). On which note, here’s a code for 30% off 😊

Overall, the book argues that negotiation & diplomacy–big & small–was everywhere (so was violence). I argue that the period up to 1835 was a distinct period, & that Aboriginal clan groups thought they had negotiated their place in a multicultural, plural future…

The process of colonising Cullunghutti/Coolangatta is ch.8. Here I pay my respects to the Jerrinja & Wreck Bay communities in the face of Alexander Berry & other colonial forces, and I honour them. I think of my Wandiwandian colleague & friend Theresa Ardler in a particular way.

There are also chapters on the movement of clothing into Indigenous worlds, and others tracing the development of new intercultural creations like guiding.

There’s another ch. on breastplates (like peace medals in North America) & one on colonial gifts of blankets and the receipt of these by Aboriginal people (which I argue were accepted in ritualised diplomatic ways, not unlike skin cloaks, and perhaps something like a treaty…)

There’s a chapter on a diplomatic meeting in the form of a feast between Governors and clans (similar to what accompanied treaty meetings in North America). You can freely access this chapter here: academic.oup.com/book/60763/cha…

This book explores some of the ways relations between and across local Aboriginal people and colonists developed over time as the latter came and stayed in Sydney & the wider colony of New South Wales

Sounds fab!