Shaking Hands on the Fringe: Negotiating the Aboriginal World at King George's Sound

Tiffany Shellam

In 1826 the British set up a garrison on the edges of an Aboriginal world at King George’s Sound, the site of present day Albany, Western Australia, with the aim of deterring the French from occupying the area.

The British newcomers and the area’s Indigenous inhabitants, the King Ya-nup, came to share a small space, forcing both cultures to adapt in order to communicate and interact with one another. Within this sphere associations and friendships were formed that were as surprising as they were unique.

This ethnographic history narrates several intimate cross-cultural stories of the developing relationships between British and Aboriginal individuals at King George’s Sound. The episodes recounted go beyond the common ‘friendly’ or ‘violent’ encounters, unearthing instead how and why particular King Ya-nup engaged with the British world, utilising the new presence to seeming advantage.

Praise for Shaking Hands on the Fringe:

Shellam brings to life the many remarkable characters who populated this world.

FIONA CAPP, THE AGE

Book details

PUBLICATION DATE: 2009
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 274 pages
SIZE: 235 x 155 mm
ISBN: 9781921401268
RIGHTS: World
CATEGORY: Aboriginal, Australian Studies, General Non-fiction, Staples Fund, Tiffany Shellam,