• Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe Book Reviews

BRUCE PASCOE | REVIEW BY: DR LILY HIRSCH

Reading Dark Emu is both a stimulating and uncomfortable experience. Stimulating because of the astonishing paradigm shift it heralds for our understanding of Australia's indigenous history. Uncomfortable because of the ignominy of our collective ignorance.

Rather than using Indigenous oral histories – which Pascoe says are easily rebuked due to “the tenacity of the Australian delusion” – he instead uses entries from journals written by early European explorers and settlers. These detail the rich agricultural history of pre- colonial Australia – the first people in the world to bake bread, builders of complex aquaculture systems, and towns of at least 1000 people.

Not only does Pascoe use white-australia's own words to abolish the egregious stereotype of the nomadic savage, echoes across time to the modern day.

Dark Emu

We live in an age of catastrophic bushfires, mass fish-kills, and ever more frequent droughts. In part, these modern-day events were seeded by the abrupt removal of Aboriginal people from their lands. The sudden cessation of ancient land management practices quickly caused rapid over- grazing, topsoil erosion, and nutrient depletion, leaving the land vulnerable.

Two hundred and thirty years on, the consequences of these actions are being starkly experienced.

While gently and persuasively drawing aside the curtain on our lost history, Pascoe also underscores the economic, environmental, and scientific benefits that Australia could enjoy if we returned to some methods of Indigenous land management: the use of kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) and yam daisy/murnong (Microseris lanceolata) for food and promoting soil quality; the re-ignition of fire culture to prevent bushfires; the practice of sustainably farming kangaroos and fish.

Dark Emu and Pascoe's recently published kids' book, Young Dark Emu, are necessary steps in helping all Australians re- connect with an amazing and sophisticated history that we should be proud of. In doing so, Dark Emu not only helps us to better cultivate our land, but also extends to us the opportunity to renew our national identity.

DARK EMU IS AVAILABLE THROUGH MAGABALA BOOKS WWW.MAGABALA.COM