Henry Reynolds pulls the rug from under legal and historical assumptions in a book that’s about the present as much as the past. Truth-Telling shows exactly why our national war memorial must acknowledge the frontier wars, why we must change the date of our national day, and why treaties are important. Most of all, it makes urgently clear that the Uluru Statement is no rhetorical flourish but carries the weight of history and law and gives us a map for the future.

In the 1840s, white settlement in the north was under attack. European settlers were in awe of Aboriginal physical fitness and fighting prowess, and a series of deadly raids on homesteads made even the townspeople of Brisbane anxious. Young warrior Dundalli was renowned for his size and strength, and his elders gave him the task of leading the resistance against the Europeans' ever increasing incursions on their traditional lands.

The contact history and political background to race relations in early colonial New South Wales; Kamilaroi territorial groupings, traditional subsistence social organisation, religion and language; pastoral expansion, government policy and attitudes toward Aborigines; violent conflict and the legal and political response; Waterloo Creek, Slaughterhouse Creek, Gravesend and Myall Creek massacres; subsequent inquiries; establishment of the Australian Aborigines Protection Society and Aboriginal Protectorate.

Dank faces head on the ingrained racism, born of brutal practice and harsh legislation, that lies always under the skin of Australia … She describes sudden terrible violence, between races and sometimes at home. But overwhelmingly this is a book about strong, beloved parents and grandparents, guiding and teaching their children and grandchildren what country means, about joyful gatherings and the pleasures of eating food provided by the place that nourishes them, both spiritually and physically.

History of early contact based on documentary sources; traces changing attitudes of both Aborigines and whites and the increasingly devastating effects of settlement.

His personal journey towards the realisation that he, like generations of Australians, grew up with a distorted and idealised version of the past. From the author's unforgettable encounter in a North Queensland jail with injustice towards Aboriginal children, to his friendship with Eddie Mabo, to his shattering of the myths about our 'peaceful' history,