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Article: Contra Windschuttle.(the great Australian silence - relations between colonists and Aborigines)(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- March 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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KEITH WINDSCHUTTLE is a great controversialist. In his recently published and (for the most part) generously reviewed book The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, he takes issue with historians who have, "under the cloak of academic respectability", corrupted the story of the relations between colonists and Aborigines. Much of his book is devoted to the methodology of history: he is scathing of historians who, in his view, let their politics get in the way of history and he is merciless with those who get their facts wrong.
Yet Windschuttle's own methodology and accuracy are seriously flawed. We can see this in one crucial section towards the end of the book, ...