Genocide and Settler Society

Colonial Genocide has increasingly been seen as a stepping-stone to the European genocides of the 20th century, yet it remains an under-researched phenomenon. This volume reconstructs instances of Australian genocide and for the first time places them in a global context. Beginning with the arrival of the British in 1788 and extending to the 1960s, the authors identify the moments of radicalization and escalation of British violence and ethnic engineering aimed at the indigenous populations, while carefully distinguishing between local massacres, cultural genocide, and genocide itself. These essays reflect a growing concern with the nature of settler society in Australia and in particular with the fate of the tens of thousands of children who were forcibly taken away from their Aboriginal families by state agencies. Long considered a relatively peaceful settlement, Australian society contained many of the pathologies that led to the exterminatory and eugenic policies of 20th-century Europe.

Paul R. Bartrop is a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Arts at Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Raymond Evans is a Research Associate of History at the University of Queensland Anna Haebich is Associate Professor in Australian Studies at Griffith University Isabel Heinemann is a lecturer in the Department of History at Freiburg University in Germany Jan Kociumbas taught Aboriginal and Pacific History at the University of Sydney between 1985 and 2002 Robert Manne, one of Australia's best - known public intellectuals, is Professor of Politics at La Trobe University Russell McGregor teaches history in the School of Humanities, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia A. Dirk Moses teaches history at the University of Sydney Henry Reynolds is currently an Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellow and Research Professor at the University of Tasmania Tim Rowse is Senior Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University Pamela Watson is an anthropologist and fifth-generation descendant of early British pastoralists who appropriated Aboriginal land in West Australia Jurgen Zimmerer is currently research fellow at the "Centro de Estudos Interdisciplinares do Seculo XX," University of Coimbra in Portugal