The Wreck of the Barque Stefano Off the North West Cape of Australia in 1875

This book was recommended to me by an Australian Government Minister to convince me that aboriginal people in 1875 needed to be rescued from their primitive conditions. It is funny how two people can read the same book and come to opposite conclusions. This is the story of two shipwrecked boys, rescued from certain death on two occasions by the aborigines who looked after them until they were able to find a ship to take them home to their families. Aboriginal technology may have been inferior, but their knowledge of how to survive without western technology was vastly superior to the European. More importantly, the compassion and assistance shown by the aborigines to these boys is what one would like to think civilization is all about. A fascinating story, with insights into tribal life at that time, and the aboriginal concept of land ownership.