‘Once every generation a book comes along that marks the emergence of a powerful new literary voice and shifts our understanding of the nation’s past. The freshest, most important book about our past in years.’ -Tim Flannery ‘What a revelatory work! If you wish to hear the voice of our continent's history before the written word, Deep Time Dreaming is a must read. Australian Book Industry Awards: Longlisted.Educational Publishing Awards: Shortlisted.Prime Minister's Literary Awards: Shortlisted.Queensland Literary Awards: Shortlisted.Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards: Highly Commended.NSW Premier's Literary Awards: Winner - Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction.NSW Premier's Literary Awards: Winner - Book of the Year.It is about a slow shift in national consciousness: the deep time dreaming that has changed the way many of us relate to this continent and its enduring, dynamic human history. It explores what it means to live in a place of great antiquity, with its complex questions of ownership and belonging. It investigates a twin revolution: the reassertion of Aboriginal identity in the second half of the twentieth century, and the uncovering of the traces of ancient Australia. Equipped with a historian’s inquiring mind, he embarks on a journey through time, seeking to understand the extraordinary deep history of the Australian continent.ĭeep Time Dreaming is the passionate product of that journey. Soon after Billy Griffiths joins his first archaeological dig as camp manager and cook, he is hooked. But the first Australians were voyaging into the unknown. A dense cloud of migrating birds may have pointed the way. Smoke billowing above the sea spoke of a land that lay beyond the horizon. People would have known about Australia before they saw it.

Deep Time Dreaming by Billy Griffiths