Original work that tells a story about cross-cultural encounters that will be a revelation to many readers. It shows how the connections between Aborigines and Australians have continued for centuries. It has lots of striking illustrations, particularly of cultural expressions of the Aboriginal/Asian relationship. It makes a major contribution to the important area of research that considers Australian history and race relations from the perspective of north Australia. It offers an engaging account of the ways in which over hundreds of years Indigenous and Asian people across northern and central Australia have traded, intermarried and built hybrid communities. It is also a disturbing expose of the persistent - sometimes paranoid - efforts of successive national governments to police, marginalise and outlaw these encounters.