Archaeology, history and the uttermost ends of the earth – Tasmania, Tierra del Fuego and the Cape

‘Strange paintings’ and ‘mystery races’: Kimberley rockart, diffusionism and colonialist constructions of Australia's Aboriginal past

“…Colonialism took the fruits of European civilization out to the world, initiating cultural change, progress and the beginnings of history itself. None of the elements used to define civilization (such as administration, writing and social stratification) applied to Australian indigenous societies, making them extra-Outsiders, among the lowest 'savages' at the 'uttermost ends of the earth' (Gamble 1992;Jones 1992); 'the very zero of civilisation' as observed one Australian colonist (Cunningham 1828: 11,39). These views can be traced back to Hume (1753( quoted in Gates 1985 who asserted that 'black races' had '[nlo ingenious manufactures among them, no arts, no sciences'.…”