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. But, there are a number of misconceptions about the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 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.

Natives camp, Australia, engraving from Raccolta di Viaggi (Travel Collection), by Francesco Costantino Marmocchi. Source: Getty Images