| HOME |
| His Story: Australian Style |
Traditional Australian history teaches that the First Fleet arrived in 1788 to bring civilisation to an empty land. In fact, the land wasn't empty and had been occupied for up to 70,000 years. The 1788 Aboriginal population can only be estimated, because of the deaths caused by smallpox epidemics in 1789 and 1829, but estimates range from a population of 750,000 to a possible 900,000. Another popular myth was that of a race of noble savages, primitive and peaceable, who acquiesced passively to the annexation of their lands. Massacres like those at Hornet Bank and Cullinlaringoe were then presented as isolated aberrations by an untrustworthy primitive people without a real motive for their actions, instead of a logical result of the meeting of two widely differing cultures claiming one land. What happened in Australia since 1788 isn’t unique to our land. The European Celts and North American Indians are also nomadic societies with a strong oral culture who experienced annexation of land which had traditionally been shared by family groups. By ignoring or undervaluing traditional culture and promoting a stereotype of an unintelligent, lazy and drunken people, untrustworthy and therefore unworthy of self-determination, the original land annexation could be validated and a source of cheap labour exploited. These nomadic cultures were then declared to be a dying race and therefore in need of government intervention offering, in turn, benevolence, protection and eventually assimilation as solutions for the problems of a dispossessed people. From the first official European landing in 1788, the Aboriginal culture was not honoured, or even recognized. A tribal people whose aunties sang teaching songs to the toddlers so the children would learn to share all possessions met a highly organised, acquisitive and possessive society; a society so materialistic that its laws considered rape to be a crime against property rather than a person. There was such a philosophical gap between the two cultures that even the good intentions of Governor Phillip towards his friend Bennelong caused harm, when the Governor suggested that Bennelong and Barangaroo's child should be born in a hospital, full of sick people and the spirits of the dead, rather than in the Governor's House as had been requested by Barangaroo, a place of power which would forge new associations between the two societies. While ignorance can be offered as an excuse for Governor Phillip's reaction, it seems that very little effort was made by the new settlers to understand or even appreciate Aboriginal culture and in some places this attitude has continued up to the present day. Individual Aborigines were accepted solely on their usefulness to society as manual labourers, while many of the dispossessed became fringe dwellers in their own land. Although Australian settlers provided employment for some Aboriginal people (and confiscated five percent of their wages to pay for government settlements to house other dispossessed Aboriginals), any opportunity offered was usually at the bottom end of Australia's socio-economic scale. When Aboriginals did resist the annexation of their lands, their protest was often misinterpreted or in some cases ignored. Traditionally raised Aboriginal children are taught to respect their Elders and to be seen and not heard. Unfortunately, this cultural heritage supports, rather than opposes, Australian society's "out of sight, out of mind" attitude to the original Australians. Successive government attitudes to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have moved through benevolence to protection and then assimilation. Australia is still to move into offering her indigenous population true self-determination. If History is the story written by the victors, then orthodox Australian History has followed precedents used in Europe and the Americas. However, just as the Celts and Indians have been successful in reconciling different belief systems so Australia can follow the example set by other dispossessed indigenous peoples. If Australia can assimilate the truths of our Aboriginal story into our accepted History we can use this knowledge as a base for Reconciliation. And by working together honestly and honourably, we can celebrate the diversity of people who are today’s Australians to create a united Australia. --- This is an excerpt from His Story: Australian style, an essay written for the First Year History course at James Cook University, North Queensland, Australia. If you would like to know more about our Circles of Life, just click on the link to visit other pages available on this website: |