Whitewash

In December 2002, The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Volume One by Keith Windschuttle was published. It argued that violence between whites and Aborigines in colonial Tasmania had been vastly exaggerated and sought to rewrite one of the most troubling parts of Australian history. The book soon attracted widespread coverage, including both high praise and heated criticism.

Until now, Windschuttle’s arguments have not been comprehensively examined. Whitewash collects some of Australia’s leading writers on Aboriginal history to do just this. The result provides not only a demolition of Windschuttle’s revisionism but also a vivid and illuminating history of one of the most famous and tragic episodes in the history of the British Empire – the dispossession of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Whitewash is edited and introduced by Robert Manne, with contributors including Henry Reynolds, Cassandra Pybus, Lyndall Ryan and Martin Krygier.

‘Windschuttle’s book on frontier conflict in Tasmania exposed some errors in previous accounts, but his own version of events was quite unconvincing. The best essays in this book provide a complete refutation of his central claims, based on evidence he ignored and historical reconstructions beyond his imagining.’ - John Hirst, author of The Sentimental Nation.