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This article examines Alfred Deakin's attitudes towards, and impacts upon, Aboriginal people during the period 1880–1910, drawing on newspaper articles and parliamentary debates as principal source materials. The discussion begins by charting the long, influential and often positive relationships Deakin had with several Aboriginal communities during a period as a Victorian MLA between 1881 and 1884. It then proceeds to document Deakin's extraordinary descent into paternalism and racially‐based fatalism which pervaded his later association with Aboriginal affairs whilst Victoria's Chief Secretary (1886–1890), Victorian MLA for Essendon and delegate to Federal conventions (1890–1900), as the Federation debates took shape. And finally, the article outlines the attitudes Deakin expressed towards Aboriginal people in his various post‐Federation political roles, including Attorney‐General, Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs. In doing so, the discussion draws out the connections between Deakin's advocacy of a white Australia and his attitudes towards Aboriginal Australia, and demonstrates the extent to which the creation of a new nation both informed and responded to socio‐racial ideologies that mandated the exclusion of non‐white identities from the nation‐to‐come.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Indigenous peoples and the environment -- Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge -- South-eastern Australia as a biocultural region -- Sources -- Aim -- Spelling -- Warnings -- Chapter 1 Totemic life -- Introduction -- Aboriginal beliefs -- Eaglehawk and Crow narratives -- Life among whales -- Discussion -- Chapter 2 Terrestrial spirit beings -- Introduction -- Ethnographic details -- Totemic protectors -- Spirit beings and Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge -- Chapter 3 Water spirit beings -- Introduction -- Bunyips -- The European discovery of bunyips -- Discussion -- Chapter 4 Plant food -- Introduction -- Plant foods -- Making wild foods 'useful' -- Discussion -- Chapter 5 Animal food -- Introduction -- Invertebrates -- Fish -- Birds -- Reptiles -- Terrestrial mammals -- Marine mammals -- Discussion -- Chapter 6 Water -- Introduction -- Reading the signs: animals and insects as indicators of the presence of water -- Hydronyms as clues in the cultural landscape -- Rock-holes -- Water from plants -- Owarine -- Waterholes beside dry lakes -- Waterholes dug to retain rainwater -- Adaptations in times of water scarcity -- Thirst quenchers -- Dew water -- Strainers and filters -- Village sites and campsites at sources of permanent water -- Drought conditions blamed on the arrival of Europeans -- Rainmakers or charmers -- Limiting water spillage -- Water extractors -- Water storage/vessels -- Bark buckets -- Waterbags made from animal skins -- Drinking vessels -- Conclusion -- Chapter 7 Fire in Aboriginal south-eastern Australia -- Introduction -- The historical record -- Customary burning -- Motivations for burning -- Knowledge of Aboriginal fire -- Fire as an offensive weapon -- Recognising fire skills -- Discussion -- Chapter 8 Watercraft -- Introduction