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of Indigenous Australian cultures. As Unit 7: Aboriginal life before European contact is very
large (covering 42 pages), representative selections of extracts for analysis in this project
have been made. This textbook highlights the complexities and differences in Indigenous
cultures throughout the Australian continent, by providing written and visual texts that
examine multiple perspectives. History is brought alive for students, presenting content really
as a ‘Living History’ through its engaging evidence, both in written and visual modes. This
textbook presents Indigenous cultures and knowledges in their traditional environment, which
is the common representation of Indigenous Australians during this era. However, unlike
other textbooks which position Indigenous Australians as belonging to an unknowable, ahistorical
and monocultural past; this textbook resists that type of representation by
positioning Indigenous cultures and knowledges as current and relevant regardless of the
cultural decimation that has been targeted at Indigenous peoples through the process of
colonization. From this, a number of distinct discourses become evident, as analysed below.
7.10.1 Discourses of diverse cultures.
Source 7.48 provides evidence that this textbook considers Australian Indigenous peoples as
belonging to a range of diverse cultures providing links between cultural activities and
geographical locations.
Source 7.48. Narrative on diverse cultures extract from Living history (Gurry, 1987,
pp. 105-106).
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