This week's "Animals and Plants" theme in the 2019 Reading Challenge brings us two books with bird pictures-the first a book that is not about birds but features one on the cover, and a book that is almost exclusively images.
Ruth Marsh read Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe
What a fascinating book! I absolutely enjoyed this and recommend it as essential reading particularly for Australians.
Bruce Pascoe is a historian and a Bunurong man from South-Central Victoria. His book and the young reader version (Young Dark Emu) takes us through the culture and society of pre-European Aboriginal Australia.
It challenges the hunter-gatherer concept of Aboriginal Australians many of us were taught.
Bruce Pascoe uses primary sources, including diaries of early colonists and explorers such as Sir Thomas Mitchell and Charles Sturt. He uses examples to show the complexity of the pre-European culture of Aboriginal people. He discusses the cultivation of the yam daisy and also discusses fire stick farming where Aboriginal people use fire as a tool to promote natural regeneration and environmental control. Aboriginal people also used numerous fishing techniques including fish traps and dams.
An exciting fact Pascoe reveals is that the world’s first bakers were Aboriginal people. Grindstones found at Cuddie Springs near Walgett in New South Wales were dated at 36,000 years old. Grindstones were also found in Kakadu, Northern Territory at 25,000 years old. These predate the Egyptians who did not bake until 17, 000 BC. This revelation should make us proud as Australians and is something exciting I can share with my own boys. Although Dark Emu can be a little hard to get through it is worth persisting as it has many “new” and lesser known facts about Aboriginal Australia.
If you are wanting a shorter version with illustrations Bruce Pascoe has just released a young person’s version called Young Dark Emu: A Truer History (which we currently have on order).
Non-fiction, Australian author I haven't read before, 305.89915 PAS, eBook
Samantha Baxter read Birds of the Outback by Don Hadden.
With beautiful colour photos and simple straight forward captions this is an excellent book for people like me who enjoy watching bird life but often wonder "What is that one called? I should know this". Enter Birds of the outback, with a brief introduction the book is arranged in alphabetical order by common-names. I especially loved the images of the fairy wrens and the multitudes of honey eaters.
But my favourite by far was the striking Wedge-tailed Eagle picture perched over its meal, reminding me of a powerful predator.
This book is useful for figuring out "What was that...?" , or simply for enjoying the quality images.
Non-fiction, Australian author I haven't read before, 598.0994 HAD
Ruth Marsh read Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture by Bruce Pascoe
What a fascinating book! I absolutely enjoyed this and recommend it as essential reading particularly for Australians.
Bruce Pascoe is a historian and a Bunurong man from South-Central Victoria. His book and the young reader version (Young Dark Emu) takes us through the culture and society of pre-European Aboriginal Australia.It challenges the hunter-gatherer concept of Aboriginal Australians many of us were taught.
Bruce Pascoe uses primary sources, including diaries of early colonists and explorers such as Sir Thomas Mitchell and Charles Sturt. He uses examples to show the complexity of the pre-European culture of Aboriginal people. He discusses the cultivation of the yam daisy and also discusses fire stick farming where Aboriginal people use fire as a tool to promote natural regeneration and environmental control. Aboriginal people also used numerous fishing techniques including fish traps and dams.
An exciting fact Pascoe reveals is that the world’s first bakers were Aboriginal people. Grindstones found at Cuddie Springs near Walgett in New South Wales were dated at 36,000 years old. Grindstones were also found in Kakadu, Northern Territory at 25,000 years old. These predate the Egyptians who did not bake until 17, 000 BC. This revelation should make us proud as Australians and is something exciting I can share with my own boys. Although Dark Emu can be a little hard to get through it is worth persisting as it has many “new” and lesser known facts about Aboriginal Australia.
If you are wanting a shorter version with illustrations Bruce Pascoe has just released a young person’s version called Young Dark Emu: A Truer History (which we currently have on order).
Non-fiction, Australian author I haven't read before, 305.89915 PAS, eBook
Samantha Baxter read Birds of the Outback by Don Hadden.
But my favourite by far was the striking Wedge-tailed Eagle picture perched over its meal, reminding me of a powerful predator.
This book is useful for figuring out "What was that...?" , or simply for enjoying the quality images.
Non-fiction, Australian author I haven't read before, 598.0994 HAD
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