In this groundbreaking history of colonisation and frontier conflict in the Hawkesbury region, First Nations historian Barry Corr navigates the gaps and silences in the primary records to reveal settler amnesia, the cataclysmic nature of colonisation, and the way history is remembered, or not remembered. Surveying the Wild Abyss is driven by primary source analysis of colonial records and deeply informed by Corr’s perspectives and community connections as an Aboriginal person who has lived most of his life in the Western Sydney Aboriginal community, the book asks non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians to reflect on their history, and reinvents the way Australian history is written.

‘From personal story to history to critical philosophy, Barry Corr takes the Hawkesbury Frontier War to “cosmic” dimensions. Take this beautiful book with you and sit and contemplate everything that flows with the Dhurabang river …’ Stephen Muecke