Where people go wrong on indigenous history

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There are a number of misconceptions about their history.

A nineteenth century engraving ot an aboriginal camp by Marmocchi Source: Getty Images

Bruce Pascoe is an Australian Indigenous writer from the Bunurong clan, who describes himself as an "ordinary Australian".

He's been described as one of Australia's most influential Indigenous historians, and in recent years, has been suggesting that generations of Australians have been misled by their history books into the false belief that Aboriginals were merely a hunter-gatherer society.

Mr Pascoe challenges this idea in his book Dark Emu, and he told SBS News he believes this to be the biggest misconception about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.