The Biggest Estate on Earth

Across Australia, early Europeans commented again and again that the land looked like a park. With extensive grassy patches and pathways, open woodlands and abundant wildlife, it evoked a country estate in England. Bill Gammage has discovered this was because Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and scientific fashion than we have ever realised. For over a decade, Gammage has examined written and visual records of the Australian landscape. He has uncovered an extraordinarily complex system of land management using fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year. We know Aboriginal people spent far less time and effort than Europeans in securing food and shelter, and now we know how they did it. With details of land-management strategies from around Australia, The Biggest Estate on Earth rewrites the history of this continent, with huge implications for us today. Once Aboriginal people were no longer able to tend their country, it became overgrown and vulnerable to the hugely damaging bushfires we now experience. And what we think of as virgin bush in a national park is nothing of the kind.

Winner of Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History 2012 (Australia)
Winner of Victorian Prize for Literature 2012 (Australia)
Winner of and Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (Prize for Non-Fiction) 2012 (Australia)
Winner of ACT Book of the Year Award 2012 (Australia)
Winner of Queensland Literary Awards (History Book Award) 2012 (Australia)
Winner of Canberra Critics' Circle Award 2011 (Australia)
Short-listed for Manning Clark House National Cultural Awards (Individual Category) 2013 (Australia)
Short-listed for NSW Premier's Literary Awards (Douglas Stewart Prize) 2012 (Australia)
Short-listed for Australian Book Industry Awards (General Non-Fiction Book of the Year) 2012 (Australia)

“"This bold book, with its lucid prose and vivid illustrations, will be discussed for years to come."”

"A beautiful and profound piece of writing, one that has importance for us all." --"Age" --"Australian Book Review"

Bill Gammage is the author of The Broken Years: Australian Soldiers in the Great War.

Explodes the myth that pre-settlement Australia was an untamed wilderness revealing the complex, country-wide systems of land management used by Aboriginal people. Winner of the Prize for Australian History in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2012; The History Book Award in the Queensland Literary Awards 2012; the Victorian Prize for Literature 2012; and the ACT Book of the Year 2012 Across Australia, early Europeans commented again and again that the land looked like a park. With extensive grassy patches and pathways, open woodlands and abundant wildlife, it evoked a country estate in England. Bill Gammage has discovered this was because Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and scientific fashion than we have ever realised. For over a decade, Gammage has examined written and visual records of the Australian landscape. He has uncovered an extraordinarily complex system of land management using fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year. We know Aboriginal people spent far less time and effort than Europeans in securing food and shelter, and now we know how they did it. With details of land-management strategies from around Australia, The Biggest Estate on Earth rewrites the history of this continent, with huge implications for us today. Once Aboriginal people were no longer able to tend their country, it became overgrown and vulnerable to the hugely damaging bushfires we now experience. And what we think of as virgin bush in a national park is nothing of the kind.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.