Additional information
| Weight | 483 g |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 230 × 150 × 26 mm |
| Format | |
| Imprint | Boolarong Press |
| ISBN | 9781925877915 |
| Publication Year | 2021 |
| Subject | History |
Under the Banyan Tree – In Search of the Lost History of Australia’s North Coast
$34.99
Graeme Dobson
The history of Australia’s north coast is a story of ancient industry and international trade with tentacles that reached as far as China. It tells of travel to the far reaches of the world where an old, mid-19th century Groote Eylandt man, spoke of chasing huge fish across cold seas and hunting furred creatures on seas hard as stone.
It’s a story of great, forgotten empires on Australia’s doorstep and rich Sultans who claimed that Australia’s north as their own long before Cook laid eyes on it.
It’s a story very few Australians know about.
When marine biologist Graeme Dobson asked elders about the origins of a strange stone structure in the middle of a bay, off a tiny island, near the coast of Arnhem Land they replied ‘Not ours’, and so began a remarkable quest that became a mystery wrapped in an adventure, folded into history. His research took him to the far corners of Arnhem Land and into the Seas and Islands to its north. It led him back through time, past missionaries, colonists, huge fishing fleets, Dutch map-makers, Portuguese explorers-come-slavers, unknown settlers and miners, and pearl cultivating tribesmen until he finally found the answer in another bay off another tiny island, this time in the remote Indonesian Aru Islands.
This is a mystery/adventure with a difference, plus fascinating insights into little discussed history of northern Australia.
Jodi Frawley PHA –
Under the Banyan Tree is not about the botanical species. Instead, it is the account of a journey through our nearest northern neighbours – nations that rarely appear in Australian histories – and stories of trade with the Yolngu in Arnhem Land. The book offers a swashbuckling romp through changing cultures around the region.
Dobson’s account is enthralling, piecing together a regional history of travel, trade and interactions that are centuries old. He has selected a style and tone that might be described as a romping yarn; it has a boys’ own adventure feel to it. For the most part, this works to keep the narrative moving and the pace lively. However, occasionally, it reveals a belittling attitude to the people he meets along the way, which appears as mistrust of locals relaying information about their own histories. When Dobson gets to the end and returns to assess the beginning of his search, he realises, if he had listened more carefully, Yolngu knew all along who had been in their land and what they were doing.
Dr Adam Newcombe –
Graeme Dobson’s book Under the Banyan Tree is a wonderful story, written on a large canvas. He reveals three important issues in his endeavor to unlock a mystery. Most Australians live south of Brisbane. Dobson’s story unfolds far to the north, in an Australia and its near neighborhood few have ever heard of, Ternate, Tidore, the Goulburn Islands. Not only does Dobson pull aside a curtain of Australian ignorance concerning their own country, he takes us on a visit to these places, geo-spatially contextualizing them as few historians do. His third issue comes in the epilogue and addresses the underpinning of Aboriginal disenfranchisement. This is an important book.
Bob Guy (store manager) –
I bought Under the Banyan Tree from the Caloundra bookshop on the day you were there signing copies. I had a couple of books ahead of yours so it took me a little while to start reading. Wow I thoroughly enjoyed it. The history lesson this book contains needs to be taught at schools right across Australia. I will be looking out for your other book now and expect it will also be a good read.
Thank You from a happy reader