P.D. Gardner, a regular contributor to the Anarchist Age Monthly Review runs a second hand bookshop at the old ENSAY POST OFFICE in East Gippsland (which is well worth a visit if you're in that part of the world). He began research on Gippsland History and on the Kurnai tribe in particular in the early 1970's (long before it was fashionable to dig into the hidden history of the terrible consequences of the white colonisation of Australia). His initial findings were published in an article titled "Massacres of Aboriginals in Gippsland 1840-50 Historian No.27 1975."

Through Foreign Eyes is the second of Gardner's three volume history on the Kurnai tribes. Albert Mullett one of the elders of the East Gippsland Aboriginal Communities has written a short moving preface to this volume. This book is a companion book to Gippsland Massacres which was published in 1983 and Our Founding Murdering Fathers which is the final addition to this trilogy.

The events which are depicted through the eyes and words of the original Gippsland colonisers are a microcosm of what happened across the length and breadth of this country between 1788 and the mid 1930's. P.D. Gardner has through meticulous research which has spanned 25 years, been able to put into print the tragic consequences of the black white wars that is part of the collective amnesia that is such a prominent feature of so many Australian governments and Australians.

The killings were a grubby little affair that even then were kept out of the official journals and records. A policy of extermination was pursued at an unofficial level while at an official level the government set up an underfunded and inefficient Aboriginal Protectorate. Through foreign eyes is divided into eleven distinct chapters, which range through the thoughts and deeds of the Explorer Strzelecki, the squatters Patrick Buckley and Henry Meyrick, the government official C.J. Tyers, the chief Aboriginal Protector George Robinson the assistant protector William Thomas the missionaries F.A. Hagenouer and John Bulmer and the anthropologist Alfred Hewitt. Chapter ten chronicles the fate of the Bungeleen family - the victims and chapter eleven provides the reader with a retrospective analysis of the massacres.

The book has an excellent index and contains extensive notes on sources. All in all P.D. Gardner has opened a window on a period of Australian history who's consistent denial has led to the tragic situation today where the current Federal Liberal / National Party government refuses to apologise for what has happened to this countries indigenous people. More importantly it still continues to refuse to compensate them for their losses.

Tragically in 1988 it passed legislation through the Federal parliament (The Wik legislation) which positively discriminates against this countries indigenous people.

This government and many Australians still continue to deny that this countries beginnings were built on murder, rape and theft. Fortunately people like P.D. Gardner are opening the eyes of those of us who want to understand and become involved in the reconciliation movement.

I recommend that readers who are interested in the real history of this country read this trilogy. All three books are available from Ngarak Press, P.O. Box 18 ENSAY 3895, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA Tel: 051-573228.