The history of Aborigines in Van Diemen's Land is long. The first Tasmanians lived in isolation and against almost insurmountable odds for as many as 300 generations after the flooding of Bass Strait. This broad-ranging book is a comprehensive and critical account of that epic survival up to the present day.

Starting from antiquity, the book examines the devastating arrival of Europeans and subsequent colonisation, warfare and exile. It emphasises the regionalism and separateness, a consistent feature of Aboriginal life since time immemorial. Carefully researched using extensive archaeological and documentary evidence, this important book fills a long-time gap in Tasmanian history.