Riverland Aborigines of the Past

An Aboriginal History of the Barmera Region

by George Woolmer

G. R. Woolmer, 1976, [Second Edition – 500 copies], ISBN 0959905928, black and white photographs, staple-bound paperback

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, tape re-enforcement at spine on inside front and back covers, institute stamp on title page and one other, tape residue on inside covers and spine  (see photographs)

“The first edition of this little book was well received and was out of print within a year.  As it was used by some College of Advanced Education courses, and was also sold to the public by the South Australian Museum…no profit is involved.
This is not a reprint but a new edition, as various alterations and additions have been made, and relevant sections brought up to date.
This history is the first of any Riverland Aboriginal people, and is the complete version of the work which appeared in The Barmera Story in a much abridged form (14,500 words as against 8,700).  It was critically read in typescript, in 1972, by Mr. Robert Edwards, Curator of Anthropology.
Australia’s Murray Valley is ancient, even in geological time spans.  It lies in the low Murray Basin, which was formed possibly 130 odd million years ago, and which is periodically (between Ice Ages) drowned by rising seas.  It is presently thought that the basic course of the Murray River was cut at an early stage of the last Glacial Period (the Pleistocene Epoch), which makes it possibly 1 million years old…”