Fabrication, genocide and denial : The history crusaders and Australia's past

In December 2002, Sydney polemicist Keith Windschuttle self-published a book called The Fabrication of Aboriginal History. The book claimed that historians Lyndall Ryan, Henry Reynolds and Lloyd Robson, the latter two both Tasmanians, deliberately fabricated evidence about the extent of violent conflict in early Tasmania. According to Windschuttle, the motives for these fabrications included hatred of their country, surrendering the country to Aborigines, promoting ethnic and racial divisions, and manufacturing white shame and guilt about the historical experience of Indigenous peoples in Australia. The publication of Fabrication generated a vigorous public debate that was still underway in late 2003. This paper discusses aspects of the debate, especially the debate about genocide and guilt, provoked by Windschuttle's Fabrication.