First edition published in 2005.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The story of how Victoria's First Nations people survived near decimation to become a vibrant community today. This second edition has been fully updated, and covers the Yoorrook Justice Commission and treaty negotiations. Early Europeans saw Victoria and its rolling grasslands as Australia felix - happy south land - a prize left for them by God. For its original inhabitants, their Country was home and life, not to be relinquished without a fierce struggle. Richard Broome tells the story of the impact of European ideas, guns, killer microbes and a pastoral economy on the networks of kinship, trade and cultures that the First Nations people of Victoria had developed over millennia. He shows how families have coped with ongoing disruption and displacement, and how individuals and groups have challenged the system. With painful stories of personal loss as well as many successes, Broome outlines how Aboriginal Victorians survived near decimation to become a vibrant community today. Aboriginal Victorians won the NSW Premier's History Awards Australian History Prize and the Victorian Community History Awards Best Print Publication Award, and was short-listed for the Human Rights Awards Non-Fiction Award. This second edition has been updated throughout, and covers the Yoorrook Justice Commission and treaty negotiations.

General.