W.E.H. Stannerâs words changed Australia. Without condescension and without sentimentality, in essays such as âThe Dreamingâ Stanner conveyed the richness and uniqueness of Aboriginal culture. In his Boyer Lectures he exposed a âcult of forgetfulness practised on a national scaleâ regarding the fate of the Aborigines, for which he coined the phrase âthe great Australian silenceâ. And in his essay âDurmugamâ he provided an unforgettable portrait of a warriorâs attempt to hold back cultural change. âHe was such a man,â Stanner wrote. âI thought I would like to make the reading world see and feel him as I did.â\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe pieces collected here span the career of W.E.H. Stanner as well as the history of Australian race relations. They reveal the extraordinary scholarship, humanity and vision of one of Australiaâs finest essayists.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWith an introductory essay by Robert Manne.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWilliam Edward Hanley Stanner was born in Sydney in 1905. Stanner helped to shape the growth of Australian anthropology, and his principal interest was the peoples of Daly River and Port Keats in the Northern Territory. Until the end of his life, he devoted a great deal of time to securing recognition of Aboriginal rights to land. He was a member of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs and, in 1968, he was the ABC's Boyer Lecturer. He was a founding member of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee. He was appointed to the chair of anthropology at the Australian National University and served as head of the department of anthropology and sociology until his retirement in 1970. He died in 1981.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nâBill Stanner was a superb essayist with a wonderful turn of phrase and ever fresh prose. He always had important things to say, which have not lost their relevance. It is wonderful that they will now be available to a new and larger audience.â âHenry Reynolds\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nâThe most clear-headed, compelling and sensitive portraits of indigenous Australians ever writtenâ â\u003ci\u003eCanberra Times\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nâStanner's essays still hold their own among this country's finest writings on matters black and white.â âNoel Pearson\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nâThe most literate and persuasive of all contributions to Australiaâs indigenous people.â âMarcia Langton\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nâAstute, nuanced and evocativeâ â\u003ci\u003eAdvertiser\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nâA masterpieceâ â\u003ci\u003eGood Reading\u003c/i\u003e
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