Determined, stubborn, culturally open, a skilled communicator, selfless, an extreme athlete, a linguist, a peacemaker among rival tribes – and above all, a priest who lived among the Aboriginal people, immersing himself in their lives and walking in their footsteps. Confalonieri was all this, and perhaps even more. Probably only a man embodying so many qualities could have chosen, in the mid-19th century, with limited resources and in near-total isolation, to live with – and for – those who were considered the lowest of the low at that time and place: the Australian Aboriginal people. They were seen as such because European culture and society regarded them as little better than animals.
