//A tiny drawing of a kangaroo curled in the letters of a 16th century Portuguese manuscript could rewrite Australian history.
The document, acquired by Les Enluminures Gallery in New York, shows a carefully-drawn sketch of kangaroo//

Unless it's an aardvark.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/01/17/comment-thats-no-kangaroo-manuscript-so-what-it

Dear Toni Lavis,

How do you know it's not an engineer? They're odd and difficult to make sense of.

I do not understand the concerns and fears of some Australians of European ancestry if they were to recognise Aboriginal sovereignty over the continent of Australia. Do they fear that they may be treated as "illegals" and be shipped off to some forsaken third world country like New Guinea or Nauru, as they like to do themselves with more recent arrived boat people? Do they fear they would be required to pay billions in compensation? Such fears are unjustified given that no such dire consequences have materialised in other places where a majority British occupation has occurred, US, Canada and New Zealand.
Once a partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians has been established and the Commonwealth of Australia has been legitimised, through the extending of governance by indigenous Australians to all, then both indigenous and other representatives can legally make laws to cover all Australians. Not laws made by some, to cover all, as the case is now. An ideal situation.

Hi Is Mise, an aardvark is not a kangaroo, its not even a wallaby, heck its not even native to Australia, they come from Africa, although I have met a few Tasmanian's who could easily be mistaken for aardvarks. Could your drawing be an armadillo, or a three toed sloth? They to are often confused with kangaroos, but never with wallabies.
Just last week I was walking down George Street Sydney with a friend, when he fell over. He jumped to his feet and exclaimed "I've just fallen over a kangaroo!". I replied "No you haven't, its an aardvark!", he said "terribly sorry, my mistake." I said "Don't mention it, they are easily confused." People that is, not kangaroos and aardvarks.

Is there an truth to the rumor that you got your genuine 17th century Portuguese manuscript from a couple of uni students for ten bucks, who knocked it up on 'Photshop' just the night before? Also is there any truth to the rumor you once shot a polar bear, believing it was the abominable snowman? Just asking.

It could be genuine, it could be a kangaroo or a wallaby.

Paul,

"It could be genuine, it could be a kangaroo or a wallaby."

I agree.

Got anything to say on Cook's seemingly reckless reckoning on getting to a river where he could careen his ship?

Perhaps its a kangaroo. Perhaps not. Nowhere does the article say the map is of eastern Australia. Even if it was and even if the Portuguese did sail down the east coast, its by-the-by since they clearly didn't advertise it and therefore played no part in the eventual opening of the country.

And even if the map existed, that doesn't mean that Cook had access to it and therefore was able to use it. Its not as though he was able to Google "Maps of the South Land" while preparing the trip.
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As to the status of women in aboriginal society (and this goes for most stone age societies), if you look beyond the disneyfied histories where aboriginal society is treated as some utopia, you'll find lots of information to show the real status of women. Just a few of many examples:

* For centuries before Europeans arrived, Chinese traders had been coming to northern Australia to buy women who were much sought after in the Chinese slave markets and harems.

* Reading Sturt's diary of his pioneering explorations to find the great inland sea, he mentions being offered women on several occasions in return for food or guns. The commentary is rather amusing has he opines that the women were possibly attractive if you could get past all the animal fat and dirt smeared on themselves to ward off mosquitoes and the very un-European hygiene regime

* one of the main reasons for the decline of the Tasmania aboriginals was the decline in their birth rate, caused in part by the practice of selling their women to sealers and fishermen in return for food and alcohol.