‘Victims of the past? White‐Aboriginal relations in Australian historiography in the nineteenth century,’ Zeitschrift für Australienstudien,No. 22/23 (2009), 24–41. (original) (raw)

This article examines the portrayal of white-Aboriginal relations in Australian historiography from 1819 to 1883, highlighting the ambivalent attitudes of historians towards colonization and its impact on Aboriginal populations. It identifies common themes and contradictions in the historical narratives, revealing how these works both recognized the violence of colonization and perpetuated the notion of terra nullius. The analysis suggests that while individual historians varied in their empathy and racism, their writings collectively served to distance the colony from its troubled past, projecting a sanitized vision of Australia’s future.