AUSTRALIA: HISTORY INFORMS CULTURE

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The very foundation of the Australian nation is steeped in racism

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A few pointers:

• Aboriginal lands were invaded by the British military in 1788. Subsequently, the aboriginal homeland was confiscated and stolen by force. First originals who were dispossessed had zero means of legal redress as they were denied all rights under the British regime.

• The spoils of plunder and piracy enriched the invader. Large tracts of land became the property of the British Crown. A handful of wealthy individuals also acquired extensive land holdings.

• Between 1788 and 1928, the new regime executed a brutal campaign of large scale extermination, which resulted in a genocide. This programme of mass murder was conducted by the British military, colonial police, and settler militias.

• Between 1788 and 1965 the first originals were denied voting rights.

• From the 1940s through the 1960s children of the first originals were kidnapped by the Australian state and raised elsewhere, in an effort to eradicate the daily customs and cultural memory of first original peoples.

• In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its Report, with 339 recommendations. And yet,

• Many people continue to die in police custody. But first originals continue to die disproportionately more so.

Moreover,

• Different first original people speak different local languages. However, many government staff do not speak the local language. This makes simple interactions far more difficult than they have to be.

• The ongoing programme of Reconciliation is largely performative. It is surface-level stuff. No actual political or social advancement for first original peoples has occurred for many decades.

• Many (maybe all) first original communities in remote Australia are under-resourced and under-funded, and severe poverty exists of a type that the Australian media would characterise as “third world conditions,” if they were writing about overseas communities.

In sum,

• Racism within Australia is stubborn, prevalent, rampant, and assumes many forms.

• Racism within Australia mutates over time, with shifts of emphasis that may convince some that racism has receded. It has not.

• Racism operates at differing levels within our society, blocking access to healthcare and housing and employment.

• Aboriginal land rights will not endanger the property rights of ordinary Australians but may imperil the large property holdings of land barons.

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Artwork | Keith Salter

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