James Boyce, a former social worker, completed a PhD at the Centre for Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), Hobart, in 2006, where he is now an Honorary Research Associate (see: http://www.mwf.com.au/2008/content/mwf_2008_standard.asp?name=BoyceJ ).
He was a major contributor to the ‘history wars’ and provided the lead essay in Whitewash: On Keith Windschuttle’s Fabrication of Aboriginal History, which was short-listed in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. His latest book, Van Diemen’s Land (Black Inc 2008), has been acclaimed for moving beyond the history wars into the complex human story of how convict settlers related to the new land and its indigenous inhabitants.
James Boyce on the Tasmanian Aboriginal Genocide (2008): “The black hole of Tasmanian history is not the violence between the white settlers and the Aborigines – a well-recorded and much discussed aspect of the British conquest – but the government sponsored ethnic clearances which followed it.” [1].
[1]. James Boyce, “Van Diemen’s Land” (Black Inc., Melbourne, 2008); see also Lyndall Ryan, “Forged by war”, review of “Van Diemen’s Land” (Black Inc., Melbourne, 2008) by James Boyce, Overland 191 (2008): http://web.overland.org.au/?page_id=314 .