Amazing 'in their own words' survey of English-language Aboriginal literature. The book includes excerpts and full works in a variety of formats including letters, poetry, prose, plays and song lyrics. It opens with a letter from Bennelong to Mr Philips in 1796, and closes with an excerpt from Swallow the Air (2006) by Tara June Winch.An important work for anyone interested in Australian history, voices of protest, and activism politics. I also think this would be a great introduction to Australian Aboriginal history for people overseas, as it encompasses the entire period since colonisation. You will be exposed to everything from invasion to protectionism to the Stolen Generations, the Bark Petition, the tent embassy, and so on; and you will glean plenty of author names to look up further work. The themes of stolen land, stolen wages, and stolen children run deeply through the entire anthology. Also present is family, and joy, and solidarity, and calls for reconciliation.What struck me hard about the book, along with the heart-rending accounts of child-stealing, was the eerie resonance between the recent Intervention and the much earlier "Protection" Acts.