Defending Country

1838 and the British Empire is expanding relentlessly. On a remote cattle station on the frontier of the young New South Wales colony a lonely convict hut keeper is forced to confront the power and greed which drives that expansion. One of the convict stockmen on the station invites a group of Aborigines to the station with the promise of protection from the bands of marauding troopers and stockmen who roam the countryside. The station's convicts and their overseer develop close relationships with the Aborigines but the threat of violence is never far away. All must ultimately face some terrible choices - choices which reverberate across the colony and leave the young hut keeper struggling to find the courage to stand against powerful oppressors. The story behind 'Demons at Dusk' is true. It is a story of love and courage, betrayal and tragedy, mystery and deceit and the strength of the human spirit.

How Indigenous law has enabled people to survive and thrive in Australia for more than 2000 generations. The sixth in a series on First Knowledges; others cover songlines, architecture, design, land management, botany, and astronomy.

The memoirs of five pioneering families who in the 1860s 'opened up' part of the Channel Country in southwest Queensland. The writers of these memoirs had much in common. And yet a careful reading of these accounts reveals startling differences in how the pioneering experience is portrayed.