Possession
Batman's Treaty and the Matter of History
Tells the fascinating story of the only treaties ever made between settlers and Aboriginal people in Australia.
Opinion
"[Atwood's] fascinating book explores one of the most persuasive and long-lasting myths in the history of Australian colonization."
Robert Cox, Hobart Mercury, 11/07/2009
"Possession is innovative in two ways: first, in arguing that the Batman treaty was far from a folly but instead a highly calculated and strategic bid for a vast swathe of land; and second, in exploring its crucial role in catalysing and consolidating the NSW colonial government's position on sovereignty and in shoring up the legal fiction of terra nullius."
Dr Penelope Edmonds, Age, 26/9/09
About this Title
Possession: Batman's Treaties and the Unsettlement of History tells the fascinating story of the only treaties ever made between settlers and Aboriginal people in Australia. It contemplates why whites forged these agreements, how the Aboriginal people understood their terms, why the government repudiated them, and how whites claimed to be the rightful owners of the land. It compares the ways settler society has endeavoured to make good its possession by repeatedly creating histories that have recalled or repressed the memory of Batman, the treaties, and the Aborigines' destruction and dispossession; and charts how Aboriginal people have unsettled this history through their remembering.
About the Author
Bain Attwood is a leading scholar in the field of cross-cultural history. He is professor in the School of Historical Studies, Monash University, and adjunct professor in the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, The Australian National University. He is the author of The Making of the Aborigines, Rights for Aborigines and Telling the Truth about Aboriginal History.
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