Dark Emu controversy took heavy toll on author Bruce Pascoe

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-18/dark-emu-controversy-took-heavy-toll-on-bruce-pascoe/102606182

Bruce Pascoe always knew his book Dark Emu would be controversial.He says just researching it, speaking to academics and archaeologists about the topics he was exploring, had "been controversial enough"."I knew that the whole area was volatile," he says, "and that asking people about Aboriginal accomplishment came with a lot of set reactions".In the book, which was published in 2014, Pascoe claims pre-colonial First Nations people were not only hunter-gatherers but also farmers, practising agriculture, building houses and settling in villages.Dark Emu went on to become a best-seller and Pascoe became a household name. It also ignited a culture war that became extremely personal, with questions raised over Pascoe's Indigenous heritage.