Healers of Arnhem Land

Book excerpt: For two decades, from 1970 to 1990, Professor Cawte annually visited the Yolngu clan of northeast Arnhem Land. During this time he recorded, with the clan leaders' permission, traditional medicinal knowledge, and healing scenes were specially enacted and photographed. This information is now presented publicly for the first time in Healers of Arnhem Land. In an attempt to span the gulf between European and Aboriginal cultures, and to encourage tolerance and understanding, this book presents anxieties and distress as intriguing mysteries, threats and challenges that confront both cultures.