The Native Tribes of Western Australia. Edited by Isobel White
Canberra, National Library of Australia, 1985.
Octavo, xii, 387 pages plus 19 plates, a map and colour endpaper illustrations.
Cloth; a fine copy with the slightly used dustwrapper.
The thirty-five page introduction by the editor is essential reading. The original manuscript of half a million words 'was written during Mrs Bates's period of service with the Western Australian Government from 1904 to 1912'; most of the information on the Aborigines of north-west Australia was gained on three journeys and a year's residence near Broome in the five years from 1899. Soon after the WA Government terminated her employment, Bates moved to Ooldea in South Australia where the well-known phase of her life with the Aborigines commenced. Provenance: the archaeologist Graeme Pretty (1940-2000), with his pencilled ownership signature on the verso of the half-title.
Item #141135
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