A 30 YEAR SUCCESS STORY
Launch of the thirtieth edition of the journal
Aboriginal History

At the launch - Ann McGrath (Director, ACIH), Peter Radoll (Head, Jabal Centre), Frances Peters-Little (Deputy, ACIH), Ingereth MacFarlane (Managing Editor, Aboriginal History Journal)

On May 3 2007, the thirtieth edition of the journal Aboriginal History was launched by the Director of RSSS, Rod Rhodes. Jennifer Martiniello of the ACT Indigenous Writers group read one of her poems, and Peter Radoll, the new Head of the Jabal Centre introduced the speakers.

The special volume marks thirty years of production of the journal Aboriginal History. In 1977, the dominant assumption was that there could be no Aboriginal history, only Aboriginal culture. Since then, Aboriginal History has been an important player in making space for a fresh genre of Australian history. Embracing an inclusive definition of what constitutes ‘history’, historical style and methodology, Aboriginal History has opened new doors for scholarship. It has been a pioneer and ‘flagship of the subdiscipline’ as Bain Attwood has said, for the last three decades.

The journal is part of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History and supported by the History Program, RSSS and the former National Centre for Indigenous Studies.

First jointly published volume by Aboriginal History Inc and the ANU E-Press
In November 2006, What Good Condition? Reflections on an Australian Aboriginal Treaty 1986-2006, Aboriginal History Monograph 13 (2007) was the first book to be jointly produced by Aboriginal History Inc and the ANU E-Press. Five more are currently in production.

Featuring contributions from prominent Aboriginal community leaders, legal experts and academics, this capacious work provides an overview of the context and legacy of the residue of treaty proposals and negotiations in past decades; a consideration of the implications of treaty in an Indigenous, national and international context; and, finally, some reflections on regional aspirations and achievements.