Aboriginal historian Barry Corr vividly investigates colonisation – but is less convincing on politics

Barry Corr New South

Surveying the Wild Abyss, by Aboriginal historian Barry Corr, is a history of colonial invasion of the Nepean–Hawkesbury rivers (“Dhurabang”) and the Sydney Plain they enclose.

Part one, just over half of the book, covers this. Then Corr turns his attention to Australian historical consciousness – what he refers to as “settler memory” and the “settler narrative”.