Books published by Aboriginal Studies Press

The people of the south coast of NSW have a long and complex relationship with the coastal environment; one that has nurtured them for thousands of years. Mutton Fish includes lively interviews with Aboriginal people who have fished traditionally and taken part in the modern fishing industry. With clarity, it introduces some of the issues that arise when Indigenous cultural practice confronts white law. ''They used to gather mutton fish and trade with Chinese people...it would really be a family gather, where men would be diving, gathering mutton fish, bringing it to share and women and kids would be lighting the fires. So our people started trading way back then. Mutton fish, or abalone, is a subsistence food easy to find and harvest, extremely rich in energy and accessible for as long as the beaches are freely open to all. Mutton Fish, unique in its breadth and accessibility, seeks to tell of this relationship and what has happened to the south coast people as their access to the coastal resources has been progressively restricted by European competition. The authors have created a thoroughly researched, readable history of Indigenous life on south coast NSW. Mutton Fish includes lively interviews with Aboriginal people who have fished traditionally and taken part in the modern fishing industry.

This book presents original and provocative views on the complex and dynamic social lives of Indigenous Australians from an historical perspective. Building on the foundational work of Harry Lourandos, the book critically examines and challenges traditional approaches which have presented Indigenous Australian pasts as static and tethered to ecological rationalism.The book reveals the ancient past of Aboriginal Australians to be one of long-term changes in social relationships and traditions, as well as the active management and manipulation of the environment. It encourages a deeper appreciation of the ways Aboriginal peoples have engaged with, and constructed their worlds. It solicits a deeper understanding of the contemporary political and social context of research and the insidious impacts of colonialist philosophies. In short, it concerns people: both past and present. Ultimately, The Social Archaeology of Australian Indigenous Societies looks beyond the stereotype of Aboriginal peoples as hunter-gatherers'' and charts new and challenging agendas for Australian Aboriginal archaeology.