Bruce Pascoe first published Dark Emu in 2014, and said that he drew on scientific work which challenged the often-cited claim that pre-colonial Australian Aboriginal peoples were only hunter-gatherers.

Dark Emu received many awards and some of Bruce Pascoe's ideas are now used in schools. Dark Emu was praised by the ABC and members of the Melbourne cafe society. There is one small problem: what Bruce Pascoe presented as facts is not backed up by strong evidence, as demonstrated in a recent book written by the anthropologist Peter Sutton and the archaeologist Keryn Walshe.

Dark Emu should be presented as a work of fiction, and immediately removed from academic research and school curriculum.

Bruce Pascoe currently works at the University of Melbourne. He is a Professor of Indigenous Agriculture. He is a salaried academic who should come clean about Dark Emu being a work of fiction. He should take accountability for it and step down from his academic position. Bruce Pascoe should also give back his NSW Premier's Award for Literature.