This post probably belongs more with the 'Aborigenes en australie, mais ou?' forum, but because it's a bit of a 'side track' and could end up being quite long, I thought I'd start something new - a list and description of some books a propos des aborigenes (and maybe later I'll even include some extracts of ones I'm reading at the moment, if anybody is interested).
Some of the books were quite famous indeed (as you can see by the number of times some of them have been reprinted).
This list is just a sample of what's out there (j'ai ces livres dans le bibliotheque de mon chambre d'hote pour les invitees a lire ou regarde les photos etc.) I haven't read them all, but I plan to, as despite being quite old, their contents are still very relevant and useful in understanding aboriginal culture, and some are also quite humourous in their descriptions and stories.

Aneas Gunn, Mrs -
We of the Never Never
(The Australian Classic) (1908, reprinted 1983, 1987...)
Aneas Gunn, Mrs - The Little Black Princess

Bates, Daisy,
The Passing of the Aborigines (1938, reprinted 4 times)

Davis, Jack
- Kullark, the Dreamers -
(1982, turned into a play in 1983, reprinted 1984)

Harney, Bill,
Tales from the Aborigines
(1959, reprinted 1960, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1974)

Lockwood, Douglas -
I, the Aboriginal
(1962, reprinted 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973.....)

Maddock, Kenneth
- The Australian Aborigines,
a portrait of their Society (1972, reprinted 1974, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1986)

Matthews, Janet & Barker, Jimmy -
The Two Worlds of Jimmy Barker (1977, reprinted 1980)

Marshall, Alan -
These were my Tribesmen - (1948, reprinted 1949, 1965, 1972....)

Maris, Hyllus & Berg, Sonia -
Women of the Sun (1985)

Davidson, Robyn - Tracks (1980)

Smith, Patsy Adam -
No Tribesman (1971, reprinted 1974 )

Paperbark: a collection of Black Australian writings
- edited by Jack Davis, Stephen Muecke, Mudrooroo Narogin, Adam Shoemaker - (University of Queensland Press, 1990, reprinted 1990, 1991, 1993 & 1994)

Puri, Dr Kamal (editor) - Indigenous Peoples in the wake of Mabo (1997)

Being Aboriginal -
Comments, observations and stories from Aboriginal Australians - from the ABC radio programs by Ros Bowden and Bill Bunbury, (1990 publisher: ABC enterprises for the ABC broadcasting corporation, Crows Nest NSW)

Land of the Rainbow Snake
- Arranged and translated by Catherine H. Berndt, illustrated by Djoki Yunupingu. Aboriginal Children's stories and songs from Western Arnhem Land. (1979, 1981)

Hope these might interest some of you.

Happy reading!
Kate

PS, I won't include too many book descriptions unless people request them, so if you do want more, vote in the poll.

Now for some of the book descriptions, taken mostly from the books back cover or introduction.

The passing of the Aborigines (Daisy Bates)
One white woman among the vanishing people of the outback.
- a lifetime spent among the natives of Australia.
Daisy Bates O.B.E. was an extraordinary woman. At the age of 41 she went to Australia as The Times correspondent to investigate the question of the Aborigines. She stayed with them 35 years, retiring at the age of 76 after having spent a private fortune on them. She spoke 188 Aboriginal dialects and claimed to be the only woman in the world on whom the primitive tribes had conferred blood brotherhood.
This allowed her to assist at tribal ceremonies forbidden to the eyes of women. This astonishing book reflects both the trust and love in which Daisy Bates was held by the Aborigines and the completeness with which she committed herself to them. It is a unique human and anthropological document.
'This entirely heroic woman faces facts that would stagger a coroner' (Daily Mail)
"The Australian Aborigine's beginnings are obscure. There will be nothing obscure about his ending....two centuries of white rule have seen to that: extinction.
Along with him and his way of life will pass a last witness to the vivid dawn of the human race. The reader must be grateful, then, for the few accounts available to us - and particularly for this book by Daisy Bates.
Mrs Bates was neigher missionary nor anthropologist: she made no attempt to improve the Aborigines, or to interpret them. What this Victorian gentlewoman did do was to live with them for 35 years, sharing their hopes, achievements, sorrows and tragedies. Eventually they accorded her the status of Kabbarli (Grandmother). It meant that Daisy had been incorporated into the tribal 'dream time' and that she was a recognised keeper of the totems. This rare record of a Stone Age society is the only one we possess ever to have been written from within such a society. But it is also something else - a truly fascinating, personal story of a remarkable woman.

The Australian Aborigines: Kenneth Maddock
Once 'decimation' was seen as the appropriate policy towards Aborigines: 'assimilation' was a progressive move. But the future of the Aborigines in Australia is still uncertain. This book provides valuable information concerning their traditions, legal system, beliefs and culture which can help all Australians make essential innovative policies and attitudes.
When the 1st edition of this now classic book was published, the Bulletin's reviewer commented 'This is the most significant and readable explanation of the Aboriginal way of life to appear in many years'
In this completely rewritten and revised edition, Maddock also sets out many of the contemporary issues, as well as analysing the aborigines relationship with the land and the troublesome problem of land rights.

Tracks - Robyn Davidson
In April 1977, a young Australian woman (aged 27) set off from Alice Springs to cross 1700 miles of desert and bush with 4 camels and a dog. Most locals who knew of her plan thought her at best imprudent, and at worst out of her wilful mind. When Robyn Davidson discovered, as the journey neared its end, that the international press were all clamouring for reports on a new public property known as the Australian 'camel lady', it came as a considerable shock.
Before she could leave Alice Springs, Robyn had to learn to ride, train and doctor camels who can weigh up to a ton. She embarked on a 2 year campaign to wheedle camels out of people who had little intention of parting with them. Yet her growing love and respect for the magnificent animals - one of the most affecting aspects of this remarkable story - outweighed any human restrictions. Having never before changed an electrical plug, she had to conquer a personal loathing for manual tasks, and learn to construct and repair all kinds of equipment. She had to convince sceptical townspeople that she was deadly serious about the journey. And then she had to convince herself. At last she headed out into the space and sun of the central desert with her animal companions. She learned to exist alongside marauding insects and snakes, to shoot or outwit wild bull camels, and, trickiest of all, to survive the infrequent brush with civilisation. There were moments of sheer splendour and some of fear. She was pleased when Eddie, a respected elder of his Aboriginal tribe, accompanied her across 200 miles, telling her myths and stories of the Dream-time, showing her how everything - sand, animals, bush, time - all fitted together in one integrated perception. She felt humbled by Eddie's wisdom, exhilarated by his wit and somehow admitted to a parallel universe this ancient people had always understood.
Tracks is a compelling personal record - told with candour and humour - of a young woman's dream and the sobering truths, unexpected rewards, joys and ironies she encountered in realizing it. Both exquisite photographs and masterly descriptions evoke this ancient, bony, awesome landscape with unusual vividness.

[b](**see also A3 photographic version, by photographer Rick Smolan titled "From Alice to Ocean" with exerpts from 'Tracks'. [.b]

"This book is deceptive. Although it may appear to be the adventure story of a young woman's 1700 mile trek alone across Australia's outback, From Alice to Ocean is also the story of what happens when you discover that the most dangerous terrain is not the external, but the internal. This book is also the story of how I (Rick Smolan) came to know Robyn, a woman I came to admire more than anyone I'd ever met.
Unlike most people, whose instincts tell them to run when frightened, this woman's inner voice urged her to challenge and confront her fears head on. She was actually willing to risk her life for something she felt she had to do.
When I first met Robyn Davidson she was living in Alice Springs preparing to cross the outback alone. She didn't feel she owed the world and explanation, but she did need money to fund her trip. National Geographic was the perfect solution, an organisation that would provide her with the resources she needed but not interfere with her plans. Or so she thought.
Robyn never planned on sharing her trip, especially with a photojournalist. She certainly had never intended to write a book about it or end up as one of Australia's leading authors. And for me, what began as a dream assignment that might lead to a National Geographic cover turned into a much more profound experience.
The one question people always ask is "Why did Robyn make this trip?" It's the one question that even Robyn has never been able to answer. And as you read this book you'll discover that the 'Why'? really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Robyn permitted herself to listen to the little voice inside herself that so many of us ignore.
As you turn these pages, remember Robyn's words: "You are as powerful and as strong as you allow yourself to be and the most difficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step". My deepest hope is that her journey will inspire you to look inside and find your own journey.
Rick Smolen.

No tribesman
Patsy Adam Smith’s first contact with Aborigines was as a sick baby, whose life was saved by an Aboriginal woman who bought milk to the outback railway settlement. 30 years later she was in poor health again and decided to return to the kind of country which had nurtured her.
She spent a series of winters in the outback, and got to know the Aborigines of many parts of Australia. In this book she tells of those she met and gives a poignant insight into how it feels to be an Aborigine today; dispossessed and detribalised in the country of his ancestors.
She lived for a while with ‘McLeods Mob’, the aboriginal men and women whom Don McLeod was striving to restore to their tribal dignity by taking them far from whitemen’s temptations. Don told her of his hatred of the missions, but she found another side of the story; missionaries who care for the families of Aborigines who gamble away their wages, learn the difficult Aboriginal languages in order to communicate with them, and do their utmost to help the transition into the modern world.
This is one woman’s picture of one of Australia’s great problem. Smith paints it with lively sympathy, affection, and many touches of humour.

Tales from the aborigines – Bill Harney
By campfire after the day’s hunt, or during the heat of the day when the foods gathered from the bush or sea were cooked in the ground ovens or on the coals of the ope fire, the aboriginal people loved to weave into their daily life the stories of bygone days. Bill Harney lived continually among the Aborigines for 50 years, recording their stories of fantasy, imagination and witchcraft and he has produced an absorbing book for the student of human nature.

The two worlds of Jimmy Barker – Reviewing this book when it was first published, Alan Marshall said in ‘The Age’: ‘This is a great and humane book, written by an understanding and compassionate woman. hope it sells in thousands’
Indeed it has, and the demand for it continues. Without exception, the reviewers have acclaimed it. ‘This is a haunting, unforgettable book. Wish that all Australians would read it’ – Geoffrey Dutton in ‘The Bulletin’
‘It is a moving personal account of the vicious and thoughtless acculturation process imposed on Ausralian Aboriginals by white society in the past 70 years…..in some ways this book is a minor masterpiece’ –Jean Bedford in ‘The Australian’.
.............."From an early age, Jimmy Barker spent most of his time with the older members of his tribe, the Muruwari of north western New South Wales, listening to their stories and songs and learning bush lore. But this happy life ended whtn Jimmy, his mother and brother and many of their friends were compulsorily moved to a government reserve. It was the start of years of suffering and struggle. Jimmy Barker survived this struggle and became uniquely equipped to describe the effect of white settlement and white government on his people. It was the combination of a traditional cultural background and the mastery of English language and European ways, which made Jimmy a member o two separate worlds….’I still feel that some part of me is closely linked with my heritage. I might have modern views in many ways, but there is another line of thought that draws me backwards. I fel that I am living between two worlds, and I am not even a full blood….’