Customer Reviews (1)

More Aboriginal Stories of Australia
This is a small book, and a quick read. But for anyone who has ever wondered about the fascinating 'dream-time' stories of our original inhabitants, it will be an unforgettable read. All the stories explain natural phenomena that we all take for granted, and explain them in a magical way. A must read for those curious about indigenous culture. ... Read more

Product Description
Aboriginal Stories of Australia is an enthralling collection of traditional tales that date back to the beginning of time. ... Read more

Product Description
The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) - The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Sir Frazer is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Sir Frazer then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
With beautiful photographs and vivid narrative, this spectacular book transports readers into the minds, hearts, and dreams of the Australian Aborigines, who maintain the oldest culture in the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Trash
Dreamkeepers: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia

This author says at the beginning that he has been accused of trying to steal Dreamtime stories, and warned to get his own Dreamtime, a concept he has no understanding of, not a clue.Most of the book is about him trying to find the Dreamtime and sad stories of the Aborigine problems.Even the title of the book is pathetically self-promoting and presumes or insinuates that he has some of significance to say about the Dreamtime.Don't be fooled by his blathering and dishonest marketing.

The obligatory one star is way too much for this book: I am going to throw the book out in order to assure other people wont read my copy.

,0reamy
One of the best i've read recently, so much so I was almost sorry to reach the end. Arden spins the non-fiction tale of his journey through the Australian outback to hear Aborigines' tales of mystery, in the stories of their ancestore; and tragedy, in the segregation and near-annihilation suffered by them, although the tale also had laughs. A trip!

How to know a dream
This is a very helpful and earnest book if you want to know about aboriginal life and thought in Australia now. By talking with several men and women in many different places the author gives us simple and sensitive reports accompanied by photographies. This means he tells us what he was told and how and when, as well as about his feelings and doubts, the relationships he did or didn't establish with the people, what he learned and what he couldn't learn but tried to.

In Their Own Words
Dreamkeepers is subtitled, "A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia."That's important to emphasize because the spirit-journey is the author's, more so than the Aboriginals.

Harvey Arden is a former editor-writer for National Geographic and co-author of Wisdomkeepers, a book on Native Americans in the United States.In the prologue, he writes,

"I had hoped to garner a few stories from the Dreamtime on this `spirit-journey' of mine into Aboriginal Australia.'" (2)

With that quest clearly stated, he and his guide travel across The Kimberley to seek out and interview a dozen or so Aboriginals to glean from them an understanding of Aboriginal faith and practice, as well as current issues affecting the plight of Aboriginals in Australia today.

Arden is a seasoned journalist and, to his credit, he gives voice to individuals who would not otherwise be heard.This is the strength of the book: The people he interviews are real people with real thoughts and feelings and stories to tell.They deserve to be heard in their own words, and Arden is there to provide the opportunity.

The reader is apt to enjoy Arden's adventures in the bush; his impromptu conversations with Mike, his guide; and, throughout, his humility.He writes,

"I was no anthropologist or scholar or historian ... I wanted to relate to them as human being to human being, ... but no less." (3)

Having said this, the book lacks breadth and depth: The Kimberley is one of many vast areas of Australia, and the spokespersons singled out are but a dozen of hundreds Arden could have just as easily chosen to interview.What's more, the anecdotal nature of the book leaves one hanging.Where is the historical perspective and theological reflection?

The book is what it is - one man's spirit-journey into Aboriginal Australia.If you're willing to accept that, you'll find it worthwhile; if you're expecting more, you might be disappointed.

An Ancient Window
There is so much mystery surrounding the Australian Aborigines and white Australians seem to want to keep it that way, to sweep these people under the rug.This book doesn't reveal all but provides a window into the rich and ancientAborigine culture.Best of all, the window is opened by the people themselves.They are not beautiful by western standards, but they radiate goodness and truth and it makes them beautiful.I offer much gratitude to Arden for searching them out and respectfully writing down their stories and showing their pictures. This book is side-by-side on my shelf with "Wisdomkeepers," Arden's beautiful book about our own North American Aborigines.The theme is the same: To honor and respect these ancient people. ... Read more

Product Description
During the period from 1900 to 1936 Aborigines in the south west of Western Australia experienced profound changes in their way of life and their status in the wider community.At the turn of the century most were economically independent; living in the bush, on station land, or their own small farming blocks they found some degree of acceptance.By the early 1930s however they had been reduced to the status of second-class citizens subject to bursts of overt racism.

This book examines the interconnected factors contributing to a bureaucratic process of pauperisation, institutionalisation and exclusion from the wider community with its associated effects on the Aborigines' status and their way of life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Down Among The Wild Men - About More Than Austrailan Culture - It's About Men and Honor.
My first exposure to the grandiose and ecletic mind of John Greenway was as a Junior at the University of Colorado in Boulder, taking an Anthropology Course called, "The Anthropology of Australia".Little did I know that first day of class in an auditorium that my life would be changed forever.That was back in 1972 and John Greenway was requiring his book, Down Among the Wild Men" as the hallmark text of our learning. His lectures added to the tales of Australian Aborigines from their knowing the song lyrics of "Daby, Daby Crockett.." without having supposedly had any or intensely little contact with the outside world at that juncture in time.Greenway was a man for the times, and yet, he was a polarizing voice and persona back in the days of hippies, students for a democratic society, the black panthers, anti-war protests and marches, the sexual revolution, and all the peace activists havig their 15 minutes of fame.Greenway thought they were all.. darest I say.. Whimps!He exposed us to the culture and the beliefs of the Wild Men Down Under. The fifteen years of his journal from the heart of his truest passion, as a musicologist, his second passion being his wife Joan, and his third passion.. being an Irish man who loved his tea and soda bread, all thrust together in a true snapshot of the times and culture of his studies.Reading about the rites of passage for manhood, or the place that women held in the Australian Aborigine culture compared to the quests of women in America's 1960's, and the true exposure to.. MAN!

I learned more about myself, more about my country, more about my stand on what is important to me, more about the world around me, and more about the true root values of life vs. the cacophony of rhetorical theories being touted by the popular voices of that day, or even this day.

This is a book I have read and then read again throughout my life. It is a 'walk' of life.. read the book, treasure it, and know that the man who wrote it was a wild man himself in many ways and although he wasn't a big burly man, but more of a "average Joe", he was never afraid to stand up to the mass of the times with a tire iron and defend his right to think and speak, thusly defending our rights to hear and attain knowledge.

To this day, if I were going to invite someone to my home for dinner, John Greenway would be on the list!His book will take you to places your mind never imagined exsisted before.. it will take you to.. yourself. Clearly and simply put, it is an awesome book.

A master sylist
The first thing that grips me is that Greenway is a true master of English style, on every level, a melding of H.L. Mencken and an enraged bulldozer. Second is the insights he gives (sometime too freely) into himself.

He displays a wonderful and commendable arrogance because he probably does know what he's talking about better than almost anyone else. At times that can be wearing - his utmost certainty that he's right about the world and its functioning. But under the hardheadedness is a love for even those he castigates among both the aborigines and the white Aussies.

A romantic pragmatist-conservative, if you can imagine such a thing, he goes far, far beyond the usual academic study to probe the personal and cultural reasons that motivate both individuals and groups. There's a certain sadness, too, in his search for a home, which he has found in the Australian bush, but which can never be truly his.

Greenway has an immense, almost frightening intellect combined with a tough-love humanity that he hides under a roiling run of billingsgate. There was no one else like him that I'm aware of, and not likely there will be.

Eyewitness at the close of 'the Australian frontier'
I agree with the earlier positive reviews of this book. This is travelogue from a master story teller, and a folklorist to boot.

Greenway worked with Norman Tindale in his later decades. Tindale was probably Australia's first archaeologist, but he had polymath interests. Tindale during World War Two played a major role in detecting the origin point of the Japanese Fu-Gu firebomb balloons used as part of a vain attempt to saboutage the US / Canadian war effort in the Pacific North West. Tindale, then a RAAF intelligence officer, analysed the sand used for the ballast and thus helped locate their point of origin. Greenway tells us what it was like to work with thinkers like this. Another of Tindale's many accomplishments was mapping the tribal areas of virtually all the Australian Aboriginal tribal groups.

Greenway gives us a feel for pioneering work in anthropology in outback Australia during the final decades of the close of the Australian frontier. The last tribal group to have 'first contact' with Europeans was contacted about 1967.

Greenway's style is anecdotal but displays the depth of his specialist knowledge, down to earth common sense and impatience with the pretentious and fraudulent.

A combination travelogue, biography and history.

John Greenway
I read this book a couple of times long many moons ago but still must concur with those who say it's a great book.The author, John Greenway, enflamed the passions of students at his university and he claimed he was, by their lights, the campus reactionary.Alack!The students did not know that in a review of one of his early books, American Folksongs of Protest, he was described by the Soviet Appartchik reviewer as "America's most progressive folklorist."Gotta love the dichotomy!Greenway was also chummy with Woody Guthrie, Aunt Molly Jackson and a folksinger in his own right.In fine, Dylan himself even pilfered one of his songs.

Great Sleeper Book on Australia and Culture!
The author, John Greenway, was my professor.This book is without doubt his masterpiece, his magnum opus.It takes the reader on a profound journey into the heart of Australia, explaining and teaching about Culture itself, the great driving engine of all human social organization.His chapter on religion is succinct and potent, and perceptive students will be indelibly changed by its insights.Dr. Greenway spent 15 years in the desert among the aborigines.His amusing tales of the characters he met and studied are almost mythic as described, a testimony to Greenway's powerful literary style (he was a student of Anglo-Saxon literature and folksongs, and studied under the great MacEdward Leach at the University of Pennsylvania).His storytelling ability is his strongest asset.But more important, the reader will be lifted above his own culture to see why people act as they do.I predict that this book will be republished some day and become a recognized text in cultural anthropology.Dr. Greeenway was a pioneer, and far ahead of his time. ... Read more

Product Description
Surveys the history, tribal groups, social life, customs, and gradual assimilation of the Australian aborigines and discusses their struggle to retain their racial identity while fighting for their rights. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

"Hopefully not the last of this genre"
"Aborigines of Australia:Original Peoples" by Richard Robyn Holder. Rourke Publications, Inc. FL 1987, ISBN 0-086625-262-2, HC 48 pgs.6 Chapters and 3 pgs of Glossary & Index.10" x 8". Plethora of color photographs.

This book was written to provide a good overview of the Aborigines of Australia with readership gauged for teens and children.This large-format book is replete with one of more color photographs on every page, and it encompasses the story of the Aborigines from origins some 1,000 years ago, their migration from Asia and settlements throughout Australia of some many hundreds of different tribes all speaking different tongue and only in recent times having a written language.

There is a succinct discussion of their Religion: "Dreaming or Dreamtime" that explores their creation or origin and their worldly views given to them by Ancestral Beings.Their lands are sacred, kinship well-structured with defined social order for children and adults.Of interest is their treatment by the migrant Australians who a various times took over their lands, used them akin to slaves, kept them in reservations and attempted to force religion upon them. And only more recently did they seriously bring about reclaim of identity by self-determination. For many years they were kept on Aboriginal Reservations. Attempts to have them assimilated into the mainstream failed.The missionaries also failed in their attempt to make Christians of them. The Aborigines (traditional) were finally given inalienable rights to lands in portions of north coastal Australia, its central core and a small patch on the Southern coast only after passage of the 1976 Land Rights Act.

Ayers Rock, incidentally, is one of their sacred sites.Currently they have access to legal and medical services and Land Council.The long-term outlook for this Race of peoples, however, appears dim.For those who have seen or plan to see the movie "Australia", this book is a great start.

finis

A good childrens look up book on aborigines
I find this book both pictorially good and written well it is imformative and intresting it compells you to learn more about the indigenous peoples of australia Angie L ... Read more

Product Description
In the middle of the Australian continent, a huge sandstone rock rises more than a thousand feet from the flat desert floor. Formerly known as Ayers Rock, this imposing landmark is now called Uluru, the name given to it by the Anangu, the Aboriginal people who live on the land around it. A site of ongoing geological processes and exceptional beauty, it is unlike any other place in the world. In her signature concise and accessible style, award-winning author Caroline Arnold discusses Uluru"s role as a sacred site for the Anangu and how the plants and animals that are part of its natural environment are an integral part of their traditional way of life. She describes the geologic processes that formed the rock"s distinctive shape and red color, the land and climate of the central Australian desert, and how wildlife has adapted to the extreme conditions. Arthur Arnold"s dramatic full-color photographs highlight the unique features and rich colors of the landscape. The area is protected as a United Nations World Heritage Site. In recognition of the rock"s significance to the Aboriginal culture, the Australian government has created the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which is visited each year by thousands of people from all over the world. Glossary, pronunciation guide, index. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Product Description
The "Mabo" decision of the High Court of Australia has provoked controversy as well as a sense of crisis in contemporary Australia. The ruling has wider implications than its relatively obvious legal and economic ones. This text considers the profound cultural and political consequences of "Mabo", which are sure to shape Australia's future beyond the end of this century, contributing to the debates about national identity. It includes chapters by leading historians, including Richard Broome, Rosemary Hunter, Jane Jacobs, Andrew Markus, Bain Atwood, Patrick Wolfe and Henry Reynolds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

About This Book
Trade paperback, 193 pp, index. Over 40 pages of bibliographic and narrative End Notes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: The Past as Future: Aborigines, Australia and the (Dis)Course of History BAIN ATTWOOD
1. Aboriginal Histories, Australian Histories and the Law ROSEMARY HUNTER
2. Native Title and Historical Tradition: Past and Present HENRY REYNOLDS
3. Histories and Rituals: Land Claims in the Territory DEBORAH ROSE BIRD
4. Historians, Aborigines and Australia: Writing the National Past RICHARD BROOME
5. Creating a Post-Mabo Archaeology of Australia TIM MURRAY
6. Between Mabo and a Hard Place: Race and the Contradictions of Conservatism ANDREW MARKUS
7. Mabo, Australia and the End of History BAIN ATTWOOD
8. Aboriginality, Mabo and the Republic: Indigenising Australia JOHN MORTON

... Read more