The Australian Aborigines. A Portrait of their Society - Kenneth Maddock

Australia occupies a special place in the history of anthropology, for it was the one continent to be inhabited until recent times only by hunters and gatherers. A culture of considerable complexity had development among the Australian Aborigines by which they were in many respects marked off from other peoples. Although their culture has been ravaged in the course of European settlement and has in many areas virtually disappeared, it is beginning to assume a new importance as a basis and symbol for Aboriginal wishes for autonomy.