Possession: Batman’s Treaty and the Matter of History tells the fascinating story of the only treaties ever made in Australia. It contemplates why these agreements were forged, how the Aboriginal people understood their terms, why government repudiated them, and how settlers claimed to be the rightful owners of the land.

Bain Attwood also reveals the ways in which the settler society has endeavoured to make good its act of possession—by repeatedly creating histories that have recalled or repressed the memory of Batman, the treaties, and the Aborigines’ destruction and dispossession—and charts how Aboriginal people have unsettled this matter of history through their remembering.

Bain Attwood is a leading scholar in the field of cross-cultural history. He is professor in the School of Historical Studies, Monash University, and adjunct professor in the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, The Australian National University. He is the author of The Making of the Aborigines, Rights for Aborigines and Telling the Truth about Aboriginal History.