In this conversation, renowned journalist Kerry O’Brien and celebrated Indigenous author Bruce Pascoe explored the way Bruce’s critically acclaimed book Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of Agriculture challenges conventional thinking about the First Australians as hunter gatherers.

In this book Bruce draws on the historical record to recreate a much more sophisticated picture of an ancient civilisation in Australia before the Europeans arrived. This is at odds with colonial and post-colonial stereotypes and points to ways that Indigenous knowledge can provide lessons that can be applied today, despite the backlash which has attempted to discredit him.