This book deals with the key issues of Australian history, while primarily focusing on the history of one First Nation family from first contact to the current day. This is a story of the British and subsequent government's complicity in genocide of the First Peoples and their culture and the ways the indigenous inhabitants survived and adapted to this onslaught.
The book has a strong geographic theme, which looks at the history of a single region or country of New South Wales. It compiles the historic records and oral history of the survivor, Peter Cutmore and the settlement and conflict that ensued in his country. First Nation testimony of the events of this period are published for the first time. The evolving programs and policies of the authorities over the ensuing years towards the First People are traced and their impacts described. The intent is an honest appraisal of the history, in the words of those who witnessed it, in the spirit of Truth-telling, reconciliation and justice for First Peoples in this country.
Another story is that of the Cutmore family and of their apical ancestor, Peter, as he was known, and the central role the family played in the history of the Gwydir, Moree and Terry Hie Hie, the home of the Cutmore ancestors. The family are proud of their heritage and identity and fought hard to keep their culture alive. But racism, policies and the cultural suppression of the post contact period all played their role, washing our First Nation heritage from our collective history. Now the story of the Cutmore family must be told as one of incredible resilience and survival in the face of genocidal colonialism.
