Why was the history of the Australian native peoples left out of history books?
History books largely ignored native peoples because they focused on the European 'discovery' of Australia, treating the land as terra nullius—belonging to nobody. This legal fiction allowed historians to write Australian history as if it began only with Captain Cook, effectively erasing the indigenous past.
Additionally, historians maintained a 'Great Australian Silence', viewing natives merely as anthropological curiosities rather than communities with distinct cultures. This exclusion was a convenient practice to justify colonisation, as acknowledging native history would have contested the European takeover of the land.
Explanation
The answer draws directly from the concepts of 'terra nullius' and W.E.H. Stanner's 'The Great Australian Silence' mentioned in the text. It explains that the exclusion was a deliberate result of viewing the land as empty and the natives as subjects of anthropology rather than history. The word count is approximately 95 words, fitting the 80-120 word constraint for a 3-mark short answer.