Because Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu has been both popularly acclaimed and persuasively criticised (by Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe in Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers), its position within the contemporary university curriculum is difficult to determine. It is tempting simply to see Dark Emu as a flawed popularisation and to welcome Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? as an authoritative corrective, but the contemporary climate of Australian tertiary education undermines our satisfaction with this dichotomising move. We are now encouraged to affirm the distinct worth of ‘Indigenous Knowledge’, to assure ‘cultural safety’ (for Indigenous students in particular) and to question the colonial privileging of what is sometimes referred to as Western Knowledge. The panel will discuss major issues raised by the book, such as the use of evidence, farming histories and, broadly, how universities might wrestle with these pedagogical challenges to teach Dark Emu as History.

Bill Gammage is an historian whose recent books include The Biggest Estate on Earth (2011) and as co-author Country: Future Fire, Future Farming (2021) on Aboriginal land management at the time contact ('1788'). His talk will also refer his note, The Great Divide (Inside Story 2 July 2021).

Tim Rowse is a retired academic with a continuing interest in research and teaching. His main interest for the last forty years has been the Indigenous/Non-Indigenous relationship in Australia - past and present. He is affiliated to Western Sydney University (Institute of Culture and Society) and to the Australian National University (School of History).

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