And while I was doing that, I started learning about the fact that Aboriginal people had agriculture. So I wrote a book called Convincing Ground, which was about the war in Australia, the war they said never happened, the war for the land between the British and Aboriginal Australia. But when I was investigating our family history, I realised that there were no books written about….the dispossession of Aboriginal people that really talked about families….and I was wanting to find out about my family, so I decided I'd have to write one. I've always been a writer, mainly stories, novels, poetry….anything, really. One of my uncles was very good in talking to me about it. My family didn't know a lot about the Aboriginal heritage in the family, or didn't say much about it, anyway, but gradually after I was about nine I became more and more familiar with the story.

The ABC has contacted Mr Dutton's office and Ms Cashman.Bruce Pascoe: My name's Bruce Pascoe and I'm a Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man, and I'm a writer. 'I've said that all along that these are distant relationships, but they're important to me, as is every relationship in my family.' 'Some people think that my association, family association, is too slim to worry about. 'It's hurtful, but a lot of hurtful things go on in life and you've just go to try and survive them,' he said. Speaking to ABC Hobart earlier this month, the Dark Emu author said it was unclear why he had been referred. The AFP said Pascoe's 'Aboriginality was not relevant in determining whether a Commonwealth offence had been committed' and so those inquiries had not been undertaken. Today, a spokesman said 'no Commonwealth offence had been identified' and the AFP had now 'finalised this matter'. The AFP confirmed in a statement that it was 'referred correspondence in relation to alleged fraudulent activity against the Commonwealth by Professor Bruce Pascoe' on Christmas Eve. It was reported by The Australian newspaper earlier this month that the complaint from Aboriginal businesswoman Josephine Cashman, which accused Mr Pascoe of financially benefiting from incorrectly claiming to be Indigenous, was referred to the AFP by the office of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

Bruce pascoe author