Coming to terms with the past? Aboriginal history and the Great Australian Unknowing

Despite significant public discourse and the volume of scholarship produced by the Aboriginal history field over more than half a century, ‘coming to terms with the past’ in settler colonial contexts remains an enduring challenge. Reflecting on the emergence of the field of Aboriginal history in Australia, this article provides a brief contextual overview of what is referred to as ‘Aboriginal history’ and the contestation of this body of work that ensued. Identifying a range of barriers to and enablers of deeper historical engagement with First Nations histories in Australia, we reflect on the success or otherwise of efforts to promote historical understanding of First Nations histories in Australia. We argue that the dedicated labour of those within and outside the academy has had limited impact in changing the historical understanding of the broader Australian public, and that what we term ‘the Great Australian Unknowing’ persists.