SOURCE: Maddock, Kenneth. “Myth, History and a Sense of Oneself.” In Past and Present: The Construction of Aboriginality, edited by Jeremy R. Beckett, pp. 11-30. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988.

In the following essay, Maddock relates and interprets several mythic stories concerning Aboriginal contact with the outside world, including tales of meetings with Captain Cook and the Macassans.

This [essay] concerns Aboriginal myths of early or initial contact between Aborigines and outsiders.¹ I have included all the stories I could find on the subject, with a view to seeing whether they convey a message about an Aboriginal sense of identity formed in reaction to encroachment. As the myths come from scattered parts of eastern and northern Australia, my approach is far removed from the ‘micro-sociology’ favoured by many anthropologists. I believe, however, that a pan-Aboriginal consciousness has been with us for some time, and that it can be misleading...