[6] The Other Side of the Frontier, published in 1981, was ground-breaking in that it was the first major work by an historian to write Australian history from an Aboriginal perspective.
[3] In many books and academic articles Reynolds has sought to explain his view of the high level of violence and conflict involved in the colonisation of Australia, and the Aboriginal resistance to numerous massacres of Indigenous people.
[7] Geoffrey Blainey and Keith Windschuttle categorise his approach as a black armband view of Australian history.
In 2002, Windschuttle, in his book The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Volume One: Van Diemen's Land 1803–1847,[8][9] disputed whether the colonial settlers of Australia committed widespread genocide against Indigenous Australians, and accused Reynolds of misrepresenting, inventing, or exaggerating evidence.
In his book Why Weren't We Told?, Reynolds describes the talks they had regarding Mabo's people's rights to their lands, on Murray Island, in the Torres Strait.
Reynolds writes: Eddie [...] would often talk about his village and about his own land, which he assured us would always be there when he returned because everyone knew it belonged to his family.
[12]Reynolds looked into the issue of Indigenous land ownership in international law, and encouraged Mabo to take the matter to court.