Aborigines of Victoria: Volume 1: With Notes Relating to the Habits of the Natives of Other Parts of Australia and Tasmania Compiled from Various Sour (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781108006569)

Robert Brough Smyth (1830-1889) was a successful Melbourne-based mining engineer and civil servant whose international contacts included the geologist Adam Sedgwick. He also spent 16 years as Secretary of the Board for the Protection of the Aborigines. In this study of the society and customs of indigenous Australians in the Victoria region, first published in 1878, he combines his own observations with those of others who lived or worked closely with the Aboriginal population. Volume 1 discusses the Aborigines' physical and mental characteristics, demographics, social interaction, rituals, daily life and mythology. Comparisons are made throughout with other indigenous populations, particularly those of nearby Pacific and Indonesian islands. Illustrated throughout, the book takes into account the changes forced on the native population by the arrival of European settlers in the late eighteenth century and preserves much information that might otherwise have been lost.

Author: Robert Brough Smyth
ISBN-10: 1108006566
ISBN-13: 9781108006569
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 12/02/2010
Pages: 576
Format: Paperback
Weight: 2.00lbs
Size: 9.61h x 6.69w x 1.17d