Terra Nullius: A Journey Through No One's Land - Softcover

Lindqvist, Sven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847080057 ISBN 13: 9781847080059

Publisher: Granta Books, 2008

Synopsis

In the critically acclaimed Desert Divers and Exterminate All the Brutes, Sven Lindqvist travelled through Africa's deserts and unearthed the cruelty of colonialism. Now he has done the same for Australia. Lindqvist travels through the south of the country, lyrically describing its landscape, flora and fauna and geology, while also telling the history of the country and revealing the shocking treatment of its Aboriginal peoples. He catalogues some truly shocking abuses, such as the rounding up of Aborigine women for transportation to the chillingly named 'Isle of the Dead' for inappropriate and often fatal syphilis treatment, and the extensive forced separation of 'half-blood' children from their families to squalid prison-like camps. Stretching from the formation of the Australian continent 600 million years ago to the 2002 hunger strikes in the Woomera detention camp, Terra Nullius leaves us with a strong sense of Australia as a piece of earth, steeped in geological and tragic human history.

About this title

Review:

* 'Terra Nullius is the latest installment in Sven Lindqvist's confrontation with the genocidal consequences of Western advancement... Lindqvist's strength is the sheer heat of his passions and the boldness with which he attacks complacency... The landscape, and his journeying, are brilliantly rendered by a master of worldly insight and stylistic precision... a work of urgent necessity and a heart-warming marvel' Independent * 'A polemical adventure in travel, criticism and autobiography, Desert Divers opens up a vast, discursive territory. It is gripping from start to finish' Geoff Dyer

Synopsis:

This book contains a beautifully described journey across Australia's desert, and into its shocking past. In critically acclaimed "Desert Divers and Exterminate all the Brutes", Sven Lindqvist travelled through Africa's deserts, and unearthed the cruelty of colonialism. Now he has done the same for Australia. Lindqvist travels through the south of the country, lyrically describing its landscape, flora and fauna and geology, while also telling the history of the country, and revealing the shocking treatment of its Aboriginal peoples.He catalogues some truly shocking abuses, such as the rounding up of Aborigine women for transportation to the chillingly named "Isle of the Dead" for inappropriate and often fatal syphilis treatment; and the extensive forced separation of 'halfblood' children from their families to squalid, prison-like camps. Stretching from the formation of the Australian continent 600 million years ago to the 2002 hunger strikes in the Woomera detention camp, "Terra Nullius" leaves us with a strong sense of Australia as a piece of earth, steeped in geological and tragic human history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1847080057
• ISBN 13: 9781847080059
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256