A researcher from Melbourne's Monash University Indigenous centre, has uncovered the involvement of Aboriginal people in Australia's early whaling and sealing industry between the 1700s and 1800s.
In a new book, Professor Lynette Russell reveals that from the earliest days of European settlement, Aboriginal people seized the opportunity to profit from life at sea as whalers and sealers.
As part of the research, Professor Russell analysed archival records of maritime industry, captains' logs, ships' records, and the journals of the sailors themselves.
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She says some participation in the whaling trade was voluntary but some was more invidious and involved kidnapping and trade in women.
Professor Russell told Murray Silby why she decided to explore the lives and adventures of Indigenous whalers and sealers and the women who supported them.
And "Roving Mariners, Australian Aboriginal Whalers and Sealers in the Southern Oceans, 1790 – 1870" is available through Suny Press.
