This is fairly a specialised argument, Doug: the only historian I know of
mentioned in the piece is Keith Windshuttle. And Windshuttle is notorious
as a "revisionist" historian who claims, among other things, that estimates
of Aboriginal massacres are vastly over-inflated by historians who accept
oral stories in Aboriginal communities as a basis for investigation. He is
an aggressively conservative historian, in line with Howard's Australia and
thus much beloved by right wing think tanks.
This article seems a little wonky, since on the one hand he blames trendy
60s historians for a "pan-Aboriginal" ideology and then confesses that the
single-race model long predates them. As to the justice of his accusation:
I admit I had no idea that there were Negrito people in North Queensland.
But I'd be, initially at least, a bit sceptical about his j'accuse to the
trendoids.
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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