Book review: Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate rigorously critiques Bruce Pascoe's argument

Language used by early colonists and explorers - words like "village" and "picks" - befuddles readers. British colonists' monolingualism meant they used English words, often imposed arbitrarily, to name never-before-seen hunter-gatherer implements. For example, "Bogan Pick" references the nearby Bogan River.

Hunter-gatherer mobility and stasis

Sutton expertly summarises the experience of escaped convict, William Buckley, who spent 32 years travelling around country with the Wathawurrung people in Central Victoria.

Over time, Buckley became fluent in the language of his Wathawurrung hosts. Later, his oral account of the hunter-gatherer group's approximate lengths of mobility and stasis at numerous sites was transcribed. It's a unique document covering a significant timespan.

This account reinforces earlier chapters in Dark Emu Debate. Sutton and Walshe make it crystal clear that Aboriginal people weren't "simple nomads" wandering around randomly, opportunistically searching for food and water. They knew their country intimately.

Rather, hunter-gatherers engaged in purposeful travel to sites with which they familiar and able to source seasonally available food, water and shelter at variable times of year.

Another conspicuous weakness in Dark Emu's approach, pinpointed by Sutton and Walshe, is Pascoe's penchant for choosing exceptions to the general rule, implying that these atypical practices were widespread or universal. It's another strategy to consolidate his argument but involves eliding vital information.

Pre-contact aquaculture

Pascoe offers two examples of "aquacultural" practice, one in Brewarrina (NSW) in the bed streams of the Barwon River, and the other in Lake Condah, in south-western Victoria.

He seizes on rock use in the Brewarrina fishery and Lake Condah's fish and seasonal eel trapping as "proof" of Aboriginal people's aqua/agricultural prowess - giving the impression they created these complex hydrological systems from scratch.

But Sutton writes, "The fish traps of Brewarrina … were not claimed as the ingenious works of human beings, but … regarded as having been put there in the Dreaming, by Dreamings." Both he and Walshe readily acknowledge the fact that Aboriginal people use/d their human agency to create modifications. It's not an either/or matter.

However, a chapter written by Walshe throws light on the seismic activity that forged Lake Condah's unique terrain and waterways. This area, she writes, is part of

a volcanic system … last active … 9,000 years ago, with a major eruption much earlier, about 37,000 thousand years ago, causing a massive lava flow across the pre-existing drainage system.

The natural tilt southwards, she explains, facilitated "naturally formed ancient river channels … to reach the Southern Ocean".