tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/indigenous-australia-10404/articlesIndigenous Australia – The Conversation2023-06-14T03:49:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2040322023-06-14T03:49:04Z2023-06-14T03:49:04ZMany First Nations communities swelter without power. Why isn’t there solar on every rooftop?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531846/original/file-20230614-29-zdp3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C24%2C3995%2C2993&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original Power</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over 3.4 million <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-01/rooftop-solar-to-overtake-coal-as-australias-main-power-source/102033740#:%7E:text=A%20new%20report%20from%20industry,business%20roofs%20across%20the%20country.">Australian houses</a> now have rooftop solar, often subsidised by <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/consumers/buying-solar/government-programs">government incentives</a>. </p>
<p>But in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, you don’t see solar on any rooftops. That’s a real problem. This part of Australia is dangerously hot in summer. And many people don’t have enough power to run vital appliances like the fridge and air conditioner. </p>
<p>Solar would be an ideal solution. Tennant Creek has over 300 days per year of sunshine with some of the clearest skies in the world, for instance. </p>
<p>Only recently, co-author and Warumungu elder Frank Jupurrurla took part in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02831-4">first NT rooftop solar trial</a>, supported by <a href="http://originalpower.org.au">Original Power</a> and installed rooftop solar on his house. </p>
<p>As our new research found, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2023.2214959?src=">this pilot</a> worked well, supplying a third of the house’s power and ending the problem of power disconnecting. Previously, the power would go out once a month on average. After solar, it never went off. </p>
<p>So why isn’t this widely available? The main problems are red tape, such as getting approval for work on public housing, securing feed in tariffs and metering requirements. As Mr Jupurrurla’s experience demonstrates, they can all be overcome – but not easily. </p>
<p>As Frank Jupurrurla says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We call the sun Kilyirr […] Right now he’s shining on my panels, he’s giving me power, and he looks after us. So that Kilyirr, he gonna be there forever. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="solar trial tennant creek" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sun after red tape: Frank Jupurrurla (centre), with family members Serena and Nina-Simone (left) and Lauren Mellor (Original Power).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original Power</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do remote communities get power at present?</h2>
<p>Prepaid electricity is used in many remote First Nations households across Australia, and in almost all town camps. In this model, people “top up” the meter with credit. When credit runs out, the electricity disconnects until more credit is purchased. The electricity here is often produced by diesel generators. </p>
<p>Despite the risk of sudden disconnection, this model is often preferred by many communities as it gives residents fewer surprise bills. The downside is it often leads to an unenviable choice – power or food. </p>
<p>For residents of Tennant Creek’s <a href="https://www.wilyajanta.org/warlinginchi-apa">town camps</a>, it is not uncommon to run out of credit on a hot day. The hotter the day, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00942-2">higher the chance</a> people will lose power. That’s because hotter weather forces air conditioners and fridges to work harder. </p>
<p>When the power goes off, food inside fridges starts to spoil. Essential medical devices such as oxygen concentrators stop operating. Medications can become inactive or even <a href="https://journals.lww.com/nursing/Citation/2019/08000/Can_medications_become_harmful_after_the.4.aspx">toxic</a>. </p>
<p>Air conditioners stop working and temperatures rise. On very hot days, the inside of a house gets well over 40°C. Children and adults can’t sleep. Going to school gets harder. Not only are these conditions unsafe, they can drive <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00210-2/fulltext">social disharmony</a>. </p>
<p>As Frank Jupurrurla says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We struggle every day. Our people, they’re not healthy. Lots of people in this town are on renal [dialysis]. Solar should be talked about in parliament and put on the table.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Did the trial help?</h2>
<p>A 6.6 kilowatt solar array was installed on Mr Jupurrurla’s house and switched on in November 2021. The house kept its grid connection and no battery was installed. Household residents received a crash course from the installers, First Nations organisation <a href="http://originalpower.org.au">Original Power</a>, on making the most of the solar for example by running the washing machine during daylight hours. </p>
<p>The result? Solar generates a third of the total power use in any given month. But more importantly, through reducing energy costs, disconnections stopped entirely. This removed a huge source of stress and made the home safer and more enjoyable, according to the family. </p>
<p>As Mr Jupurrurla says: “We used to put a lot of power cards in nearly every day, second day. Now we got money all the time since we’ve got solar.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="solar install trial tennant creek" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation took a fraction of the time to get approvals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original Power</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Solar is a great solution – but only if it’s made easy</h2>
<p>It sounds simple: install a 6.6kW array and see what difference it made. After all, people in the cities can do this routinely. </p>
<p>But it’s harder far from the cities, and harder still when different government departments have to sign off. As Mr Jupurrurla describes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The barriers was from the day we started. Before that, we’d argue with [Department of] Housing, and they said we have to check inside and check if the house is strong enough. Once we had the panels on, then it took us a while to [turn] it on. It was pretty frustrating. It took Power and Water more than three months just to switch the switch on. It was so hard. I rang the housing minister but nothing happened. So one day I just went out there to the box and switched it on myself </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Installing solar here meant overcoming regulatory barriers such as securing feed-in tariffs for excess power produced, ensuring the public housing is high-quality enough to host solar, and the question of ownership of the panels. </p>
<p>The NT housing department required an engineer’s sign off on the roof’s structural integrity, as this can’t be assumed for remote public housing. </p>
<p>As Mr Jupurrurla’s experience demonstrates, these barriers can be overcome – but not easily. </p>
<h2>What’s stopping a wider rollout?</h2>
<p>Our trial shows solar can work well for remote communities. The timing is good, as the ongoing roll-out of smart prepay meters means most remote First Nations houses in the NT are able to <a href="https://www.securemeters.com/au/product/smart-prepayment-electricity/direct-connected-meter-smart-prepayment-electricity/liberty-120/">handle solar</a>. </p>
<p>For this to gain momentum, the NT government must find ways to overcome these barriers. The Territory government has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-04/nt-supreme-court-finds-for-santa-teresa-public-housing-tenants/100804718">responsibilities</a> as both the landlord for <a href="https://tfhc.nt.gov.au/housing-and-homelessness">housing</a> and as the <a href="https://www.powerwater.com.au/">monopoly energy provider</a>. </p>
<p>A key first step would be to smooth the path with clear paperwork and incentives for prepay households to install solar. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="northern territory remote community" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No solar to be seen: remote communities in the Northern Territory often lack reliable power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just as in the cities, encouraging solar will require financial incentives to offset the upfront cost, with <a href="https://www.highwaylearning.com/translation/powerstory/videos/PowerStory-Luritja.mp4">culturally appropriate</a> resources available in First Nations languages to explain the process. </p>
<p>Feed-in tariffs have long driven demand for solar for many homeowners. Ensuring remote communities are eligible will be vital. </p>
<p>Australian households are world leaders in taking up solar. But for too long, the ability to generate your own power from the sun has been off limits to many of the people who would benefit the most. </p>
<p>This year is an excellent time to correct this, as the federal government works towards a co-designed <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-and-climate-change-ministerial-council/priorities/national-energy-transformation-partnership/first-nations-clean-energy-strategy">First Nations Clean Energy Strategy</a> and the NT government’s plans for <a href="https://territoryrenewableenergy.nt.gov.au/strategies-and-plans/electricity-system-plans#Remote-power-system-strategy">better power solutions</a> in remote communities. </p>
<p>As Frank Jupurrurla says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’d like to see government fund […] panels on homes. Especially in the Community Living Areas [Town Camps] in places like Alice Springs, Tenant Creek, and Katherine.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-is-turning-remote-indigenous-houses-into-dangerous-hot-boxes-184328">How climate change is turning remote Indigenous houses into dangerous hot boxes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204032/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Quilty is affiliated with a community project, Wilya Janta, that is progressing better housing design with greater Indigenous agency in Tennant Creek. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Riley is a Research Fellow at the ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research working on the ANU Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Some of the data referenced in this article (specifically mapping locations where prepayment is not prohibited) was collected as part of a project funded under grant ARFEB22001 by Energy Consumers Australia Limited (<a href="http://www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au">www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au</a>) as part of its grants process for consumer advocacy projects and research projects for the benefit of consumers of electricity and natural gas. The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy Consumers Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norman Frank Jupurrurla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s 2023 and residents in remote First Nations communities still suffer from regular power disconnections. The fix is simple: put solar on every roof. But there are challenges to overcome first.Simon Quilty, Senior Staff Specialist, Alice Springs Hospital. Purple House Medical Advisor. Honorary ANU., Australian National UniversityBrad Riley, Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityLee White, Fellow, Australian National UniversityNorman Frank Jupurrurla, Warumungu Elder and Director of the Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation, Tennant Creek, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2052902023-05-31T20:07:49Z2023-05-31T20:07:49ZClosing the First Nations employment gap will take 100 years<p>In 2008 Australia’s federal, state and territory governments set the goal of <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/closing_the_gap.pdf">halving the employment gap</a> between First Nations Australians and others within a decade. That required, by 2018, lifting the employment rate for First Nations Australians from <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/closing_the_gap.pdf">48% to 60%</a>, with the rate for other Australians being <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/closing_the_gap.pdf">72%</a>.</p>
<p>So how are things going? Not well.</p>
<p>At the 2021 census the employment rate for First Nations Australians was 51%, while the rate for other Australians was <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/microdata-tablebuilder/tablebuilder">74%</a>. </p>
<p>Assuming the employment rate for other Australians does not change, the rate of incremental gains in First Nations employment since 2008 suggests that closing the employment gap is going to take 100 years.</p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="HpaZ4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HpaZ4/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>We have analysed the employment data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to get a more granular picture of why so little progress has been made. </p>
<p>Our results show the ongoing problems of low educational attainment and lack of employment opportunities in rural and remote areas, where the majority of First Nations Australians live.</p>
<h2>What these statistics show</h2>
<p>Before we continue, it’s important to note the following statistics use a slightly different way to measure employment (and unemployment) rates than that used in the Australian government’s <a href="https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/">Closing the Gap</a> reports, referenced above.</p>
<p>The Closing the Gap methodology measures employment as a percentage of all people aged 15 to 64. We’ve adopted the approach used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for its unemployment data. This approach measures the employment rate as the percentage of people employed in the labour force – the labour force being anyone working or registered as looking for work. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The first Closing the Gap report, 2009." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first Closing the Gap report, 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/resources/reports">Australian Government</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rationale for the Closing the Gap methodology is that the bureau’s measure overstates Indigenous employment, because First Nations Australians have a lower labour-force participation rate. That is, there is a greater proportion of Indigenous Australians that don’t have jobs but are not counted as unemployed because they aren’t registered as unemployed.</p>
<p>There are pros and cons to both approaches. We’re using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, so we’ve stuck with the bureau’s approach. It doesn’t substantially change the results, but it’s important to acknowledge the subtle distinction. </p>
<h2>Educational attainment matters</h2>
<p>Our first two graphs demonstrate the importance of educational outcomes.</p>
<p>Almost half of the First Nations Australians (49%) do not have a qualification beyond secondary education, compared with 31% of other Australians. About 12% of First Nations Australians attain university qualifications of a bachelor’s degree and above (graduate diploma or postgraduate), compared with about 37% of other Australians.</p>
<hr>
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<hr>
<p>These differences in educational attainment are reflected in employment outcomes. </p>
<p>For the 6.7% of First Nations Australians who leave school before year 10, the unemployment rate is more than 25%. For those with no qualification beyond year 10 to 12 of secondary school, the rate is 16.7%. </p>
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<hr>
<p>Unemployment rates begin to equalise only with university qualifications.
For every level of educational attainment less than a diploma, First Nations unemployment rate is at least double that of other Australians. </p>
<h2>Location counts</h2>
<p>There are likely multiple reasons for these stark differences in employment outcomes by education, <a href="https://cdn.minderoo.org/content/uploads/2022/05/22105150/Woort-%20Koorliny-Australian-Indigenous-Employment-Index-2022.pdf">including discrimination</a>. But one clear factor is geographic location. </p>
<p>First Nations Australians in remote and very remote locations are twice more likely to be unemployed than their peers in major cities (where the unemployment rate is still double that of other Australians). The more remote, the higher the rate of unemployment.</p>
<hr>
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<hr>
<p>Why do the unemployment rates for other Australians show the opposite trend, with lower rates the more remote? Our best guess is this disparity reflects a combination of the effects of educational attainment, job opportunities available and labour mobility.</p>
<p>Non-Indigenous Australians in remote regions are more likely to have moved to these areas only after securing jobs upon attaining their schooling and qualifications in a big city. Governments often <a href="https://www.regionalwork.sa.gov.au/financial-support/workers">provide incentives</a> for those with the right skills to <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/grants-and-funding/regional-skills-relocation-grant-0">relocate to these regions</a>. </p>
<p>This disparity presents a stark challenge for employment programs, given almost 60% of First Nations Australians live outside the major cities, compared with only a quarter of other Australians. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Remoteness areas for Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remoteness areas for Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/remoteness-structure/remoteness-areas">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Commonwealth employment programs for remote regions have a vexed history, with the most recent program, known as the Community Development Program, <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/welcome-end-to-so-called-community-development-program-cdp/">being cancelled in 2021</a>. The Albanese government announced a replacement <a href="https://www.indigenous.gov.au/news-and-media/announcements/new-remote-jobs-program-replace-cdp-changes-mutual-obligation">remote jobs program</a> in the May federal budget.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-government-announces-424-million-to-narrow-a-gap-that-is-not-closing-fast-enough-199750">Albanese government announces $424 million to narrow a gap that is not closing fast enough</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Employment by occupation</h2>
<p>The unemployment-related factors lead to differences in the occupational profile of First Nations Australians. They are more likely than other Australians to be employed in community and personal services or manual labour, and significantly less likely to be in a professional or managerial role.</p>
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<p><iframe id="c4dBX" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/c4dBX/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<h2>Different approaches needed</h2>
<p>These statistics show that, with the exception of those achieving postgraduate qualifications, First Nations Australians face multiple disadvantages in employment.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-arent-closing-the-gap-a-failure-to-account-for-cultural-counterfactuals-129076">Why we aren't closing the gap: a failure to account for 'cultural counterfactuals'</a>
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</p>
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<p>The lack of any significant progress in the past 25 years suggests just continuing with the same policies will achieve little. </p>
<p>Something has to change. Listening to those closest to the problem, and giving First Nations Australians a greater say in designing and implementing solutions would be a good start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the 15 years since Australian governments committed to improving Indigenous employment rates, virtually nothing has been achieved.Reza M. Monem, Professor of Accounting, Griffith UniversityHayden McDonald, Program Director, Torrens University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955652023-03-31T04:40:16Z2023-03-31T04:40:16ZListen! The simple thing the finance sector can do for Indigenous customers that can change people’s lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518615/original/file-20230330-20-cep2dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C436%2C4926%2C2477&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The story of the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, whose name and marketing misled thousands of customers into believing it was Indigenous owned and run, is a stark example of how Australia’s financial regulations have let down Indigenous people.</p>
<p>It took a <a href="https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/fsrc-volume-1-final-report.pdf">financial royal commission</a> to expose how the fund had exploited regulatory loopholes and the significance of “<a href="https://www.commonground.org.au/article/death-and-sorry-business">Sorry Business</a>” in some Indigenous cultures to line the pockets of its non-Indigenous owners over three decades. </p>
<p>Those loopholes were finally closed in 2020 (the royal commission reported in 2019). The corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), then went to the Federal Court <a href="https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2020-releases/20-262mr-asic-commences-proceedings-against-acbf-funeral-plans-and-youpla-group-concerning-funeral-expenses-insurance/">seeking a A$7.5 million fine</a> for deceptive and misleading conduct. </p>
<p>The fund, rebranded as Youpla, went into liquidation in March 2022, leaving thousands of families <a href="https://financialrights.org.au/mob-strong/media-release-youpla-collapse-to-fuel-trauma-and-intergenerational-debt-for-indigenous-families-across-australia/">unable to pay for Sorry Business</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-body-snatchers-to-dodgy-marketers-the-dirty-history-of-funeral-schemes-160699">From body snatchers to dodgy marketers: the dirty history of funeral schemes</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>But it’s not just dodgy schemes sold “by the unscrupulous to the unsophisticated and vulnerable” (in <a href="https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/volume-1.pdf">the words</a> of Commissioner Ken Hayne) that Indigenous people have had to contend with. The royal commission also exposed the difficulties many face just with the normal financial rules, particularly when they live in remote areas.</p>
<h2>Financial hurdles</h2>
<p>Consider something relatively simple: meeting identification requirements. If you’ve got a birth certificate, driver’s licence, or passport, no problem. But what if you don’t? </p>
<p>As Nathan Boyle, a senior analyst with ASIC’s <a href="https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/what-we-do/how-we-operate/stakeholder-liaison/asic-s-indigenous-outreach-program/">Indigenous Outreach Program</a> explained to the royal commission, the legacy of government policies – notably child removal – means many births, deaths and marriages in remote communities may not have been registered. Even when a person does have identification, names on documents may differ – between their traditional “skin” or “kin” name", birth name or adoptive name.</p>
<p>The royal commission <a href="https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2020-09/volume-1.pdf">reported</a> problems rooted in a lack of cultural understanding and culturally appropriate
communication. One example was the “needless difficulty” a Northern Territory customer had switching to a basic account, being made to make multiple three-hour trips to a bank branch in Katherine “to achieve what should have been the simplest objective”. </p>
<h2>Listening to customers</h2>
<p>But not every story from the royal commission was bad. An exemplar of good service was QSuper, the Queensland superannuation scheme, now part of Australian Retirement Trust. In his evidence Boyle praised QSuper senior executive Lyn Melcer as a “champion of Indigenous superannuation issues”.</p>
<p>What was the key to QSuper’s approach? It’s actually <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05253-4">common sense</a>. Melcer started listening to the stories of Indigenous customers, and ensured others in the organisation heard those stories too. </p>
<p>Melcer is an industry veteran of 40 years. </p>
<p>In 2014 Boyle invited her, as QSuper’s head of technical services, which involves ensuring organisational processes meet regulatory requirements, to join him on a visit to the Lockhart River in far north Queensland, to hear the problems people faced accessing their super.</p>
<p>About 2,500 km north of Brisbane, Lockhart River is just 300 km from the tip of Cape York. This is <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93920">Uutaalnganu country</a>. The town’s 700 residents represent six local clans, known as the Pama Malnkana (people of the beach), their forebears having been drawn together at the site of an Anglican Church mission. </p>
<p><iframe id="gwKDN" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gwKDN/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Boyle wanted Melcer to see and hear firsthand the problems people faced in accessing their superannuation funds. For example, to gain early access to super for medical reasons may require certificates from two independent medical experts – which Lockhart River doesn’t have.</p>
<p>Hearing these stories firsthand had a profound impact, as Melcer later <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190208084821/https://financialservices.royalcommission.gov.au/public-hearings/Documents/transcripts-2018/transcript-13-august-2018.pdf">told the royal commission</a>: “I thought we treated all our customers equally because we had exactly the same rules for everyone. What Lockhart River showed me is not everyone starts in the same place.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Lockhart River township," src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517835/original/file-20230328-2416-xu864f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lockhart River township is on the site of a former mission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://lockhart.qld.gov.au/">Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Council</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Upon returning to QSuper’s Brisbane office, Melcer committed to ensuring the rest of the organisation heard those stories too. She realised reports about numbers wouldn’t cut it. “I never talk about statistics only,” she told us. “I talk about stories, the human side.” </p>
<h2>Listening, and acting</h2>
<p>We interviewed Melcer and 28 other people to understand how actively listening to customers changed QSuper’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05253-4">culture and processes</a>.</p>
<p>The fund started sending out teams to remote communities – Thursday Island, Horn Island, Bamaga, Yarrabah, Darnley Island, Doomadgee – to help customers with their superannuation issues. </p>
<p>From these experiences came greater awareness within the organisation of all the ways the standard rules and regulations could disadvantage clients in remote areas. </p>
<p>“You need to spend time to understand the challenges faced in our remote communities around accessing basic services, such as a phone, the internet,” one call-centre leader (also Indigenous) told us. “It’s so different.”</p>
<p>Since 2014, QSuper has engaged in more than 100 activities such as cultural training. A <a href="https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation-action-plans/">Reconciliation Action Plan</a> has been made. Experiences have been shared at Indigenous finance summits and Australian Taxation Office forums. The fund has worked with Indigenous finance counsellors, and sponsored a “<a href="https://firstnationsfoundation.org.au/big-super-day-out/">Big Super Day Out</a>” in Cairns as part of NAIDOC Week. It has engaged with the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to resolve cases when documents needed to access superannuation can’t be found.</p>
<p>Melcer and her colleagues also worked to change the rules about identification imposed by Australia’s financial-crime regulator, AUSTRAC. This led to AUSTRAC changing its guidelines in 2016 to allow the use of non-conventional forms of identification, such as a referee’s statement or an Indigenous organisation membership card. This has <a href="https://www.austrac.gov.au/business/how-comply-and-report-guidance-and-resources/customer-identification-and-verification/identifying-customers-who-dont-have-conventional-forms-id">benefited others as well</a>, such as women fleeing domestic violence or those who have lost everything in a flood or fire.</p>
<p>Listening to people’s stories, not just treating them as numbers on a spreadsheet, may seem like common sense, but it’s not something the finance industry has done. Nor, for that matter, many others.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-we-moved-the-goalposts-on-indigenous-policies-so-they-reflect-indigenous-values-112282">It's time we moved the goalposts on Indigenous policies, so they reflect Indigenous values</a>
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</p>
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<p>The power of storytelling is something at the heart of <a href="https://www.yarn.com.au/blogs/yarn-in-the-community/the-importance-of-storytelling-within-indigenous-culture">all Indigenous cultures</a>. It is how Indigenous Australians have passed on their knowledge and wisdom from one generation to the next for 60,000 years. It’s something from which we can all learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare JM Burns received $5000 funding from ECSTRA and the Australasian Business Ethics Network to explore ethical decision making in Indigenous finance.
No direct or indirect commercial benefits to the researchers conducting this study occurred; however, in the spirit of full disclosure, the lead researcher, Clare JM Burns, wishes to state she was employed by the Queensland Government from 2012 to 2014, where QSuper was the default super fund.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cindy Shannon, Deborah Delaney, and Luke Houghton do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One super fund’s efforts to properly serve remote Indigenous customers sparked a national change – which has helped women fleeing domestic violence and those who’ve lost everything in a flood or fire.Clare JM Burns, Assistant Professor and Non-executive Director, Bond UniversityCindy Shannon, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Indigenous, Diversity and Inclusion), Griffith UniversityDeborah Delaney, Associate Professor, Griffith UniversityLuke Houghton, Associate Professor and Academic Director Executive Education, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822222022-09-08T20:05:57Z2022-09-08T20:05:57ZFriday essay: we are the voice – why we need more Indigenous editors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482889/original/file-20220906-18-m2f18h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C24%2C8167%2C5432&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eddie Koiki Mabo and others made the High Court of Australia recognise in 1992 that <em>terra nullius</em> – nobody’s land – was a fiction. It is taking us longer to kill off its lesser-known cousin, <em>vox nullius</em>. <em>Vox</em> can mean sound, word or voice; ideas of us – us being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples – having no voice are part of an enduring colonial imaginary. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwgcolman">Bwgcolman</a> midwife and nurse researcher, Dr Lynore K. Geia has <a href="https://indigenousx.com.au/indigenous-voices-are-re-emerging-we-are-representing-ourselves-once-again/">referred to us</a> being “bound in a place of <em>vox nullius</em>” – the phraseology is significant. It says as Indigenous peoples we have our voices, but the place of our contemporary existence – Australia – is not hearing or listening. </p>
<p>We are now on course toward a referendum on constitutional recognition. The Australian electorate might respond to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uluru-statement-must-be-core-to-promises-made-by-all-parties-in-the-lead-up-to-the-federal-election-182296">Uluru Statement from the Heart</a> by delivering a green light for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/establishing-a-voice-to-parliament-could-be-an-opportunity-for-indigenous-nation-building-heres-what-that-means-187534">Voice to Parliament</a>. That Voice should go some way to eliminating the vacuum that refuses our voices. And there are many other ways our voices can be heard. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-30-years-after-mabo-what-do-australias-battler-stories-and-their-evasions-say-about-who-we-are-187110">Friday essay: 30 years after Mabo, what do Australia's battler stories – and their evasions – say about who we are?</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Publishing Indigenous voices</h2>
<p>Our voices have always been fundamentally connected to our territories and made visible on Country – in sand, on bodies, message sticks, trees and walls, through waters, and up in smoke. Our voices, as channelled through the adopted technology of alphabetic writing, can be seen in our history of protest writing, our scripts for radio, stage and screen, and in our contemporary literature. </p>
<p>Publishing Indigenous voices in books is complex – culturally and interculturally. So much nuance can be missed or misread. For example, many Blak people see red over initial-letter lower-casing; lower-casing that is frequently used in historical and contemporary colonial <em>lingua franca</em>. </p>
<p>Destiny Deacon, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2634824363321401">2022 First Nations Red Ochre Award</a> recipient, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/art-and-design/blak-like-me-how-destiny-deacon-used-art-to-shout-back-at-racists-20201203-p56k81.html">coined Blak</a> in a 1991 photograph, “Blak lik mi”, as clapback to all the racists who use black as an insult. Deacon is reported as saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Blak – meaning specifically Australian Indigenous people – started to get used more widely and now it’s everywhere, right across the board. Art, music, theatre, dance. I’m glad the Indigenous community is using it and that I get acknowledged for it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Taking the “c” out of Blak removes the racist from our view, but it also displaces the colour black as exclusive marker of who we are. Indigenous peoples across this continent come in all different skin colours. It is not hard to see how an editor ignorant of our cultural history and contemporary politics would mark up a manuscript to “correct” Blak to black and drive a wedge in the editorial relationship, which only works when trust lives there. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lIl44F4RAAU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Aboriginal trans/non-binary queer Professor of Indigenous Studies, <a href="https://www.sandyosullivan.net/">Sandy O’Sullivan</a>, generously reminds us (in the academy and across social media) that “Aboriginal” and “Indigenous”, as they pertain to us, are proper nouns and as such should be initial-letter capitalised. Sandy and their colleagues have also created <a href="https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/161911416/Publisher_version.pdf">an excellent guide</a> to writing and speaking about Indigenous people in Australia. Every editor should use it like a compass as they navigate this terrain. </p>
<h2>Against ‘gubberising’</h2>
<p>There have been excellent recent public contributions to maturing Australian publishing. Bridget Caldwell-Bright frames <a href="https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/diverse-publishing-isnt-just-about-writers/">her advocacy</a> for more Indigenous publishing professionals within conversations about diversity. She argues employment is “the only concrete way to ensure that Indigenous expression can exist without having to rely on the cross-cultural editorial relationship”. </p>
<p>Caldwell-Bright has a strong point: fewer than 1% of Australian publishing professionals identified as First Nations in the <a href="https://www.publishers.asn.au//WorkplaceSurvey2022">2022 Australian Publishing Industry Workforce Survey</a> on Diversity and Inclusion. As a former publisher’s editor who trained and worked at <a href="https://www.magabala.com/">Magabala Books</a> and <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/">University of Queensland Press</a> in the 1990s – and who later managed <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/about/what-we-do/aboriginal-studies-press">Aboriginal Studies Press</a> in the 2000s – I too advocate for more publishing career opportunities for us Mobs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/white-female-and-high-rates-of-mental-illness-new-diversity-research-offers-a-snapshot-of-the-publishing-industry-189679">White, female, and high rates of mental illness: new diversity research offers a snapshot of the publishing industry</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the publishing industry cannot rely solely on its Indigenous workforce to ensure it catches up on effective practices in relation to Indigenous writers and writing. The industry’s culture needs to change to effect sustainable, meaningful and continuous improvement. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482855/original/file-20220906-14-za6oou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Wuthathi/Meriam woman Terri Janke, an international authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, is known for innovating pathways between the non-Indigenous business sector and Indigenous people in business. She <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jul/20/terri-janke-the-australian-lawyer-trying-to-stop-indigenous-cultural-theft">has developed</a> protocols for the Australia Council, Screen Australia, the City of Sydney and LendLease, among others. </p>
<p>Her groundbreaking legal and scholarly work on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights, epitomised in her 2021 book <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/true-tracks/">True Tracks</a>, can continue to be a lighthouse for industries – such as book publishing – that commercialise Indigenous cultures. Respect for these rights and sharing benefits with Indigenous creators are the touchstones of that still-pending future.</p>
<p>Culture incubates literature. A broader national culture in contest with itself can never fully settle the terms of its preferred cultural expression. I often hear critique based on what does or doesn’t contain literary merit as a convenient alibi for what the critic does not feel comfortable with. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover: Don't Take Your Love to Town by Ruby Langford Ginibi" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483139/original/file-20220907-12-t7keuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Improving our national literature with Indigenous voice could be a mutually beneficial goal if we keep maturing our publishing workforce to not “gubberise” our text – a demand voiced by the late <a href="https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/ginibi-ruby-langford-16683">Ruby Langford-Ginibi</a>. “Gubberise” is vernacular from the word “gubba”, which some say is short for “government” – which translates in vernacular as white people. </p>
<p>I am Wakka Wakka and Gooreng Gooreng. I was raised in the North Burnett region of rural Queensland on the Country of my ancestors, the Wakka Wakka. I chose academia as a third career after policy research, then publishing. I have taught editing and publishing studies, as well as literary studies. </p>
<p>In all the mainstream curriculum I have convened as an academic, I have renovated teaching methods with critical Indigenous knowledges, perspectives and resources. Nevertheless, communicating the many specific Indigenous editing issues to a mainstream (albeit mixed) audience is not a simple task – primarily because there is no single style guide that can be adopted for all manuscripts and all authors. </p>
<p>The impulse toward a “How To” guide is understandable, but wrong. Australia is a continent of hundreds of First Nations. There are stark differences here of language, history and culture – and there are nuanced issues of voice, creativity and representation. </p>
<p>Editing any writing for publication is an act of cultural mediation. It requires heavy doses of diplomacy to elicit the best from writers, combined with a hard-nosed pragmatism to get books to market on time. What constitutes “best” in this journey is a value judgement – and value judgements derive from culture. </p>
<p>As you will learn in any editing apprenticeship or publishing studies coursework, there are three primary types of editing. The first is structural editing – what arrangement best suits this story? The second is copy editing – is this written well, do paragraphs and phrases jar, or do they draw the reader in and keep them on their reading journey? And finally, line editing – are sentences scanning well, are typographical errors eliminated? </p>
<p>These are technical skills that can be taught. But fostering <a href="https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/cultural-intelligence-and-openness-essential-elements-of-effectiv">cultural intelligence</a> is a broader project. </p>
<h2>Advice for non-Indigenous editors</h2>
<p>Even if we gained population parity of Indigenous professionals in the publishing industry, 96.8% of the industry would still not be us. This perhaps explains why conversations about editing of Indigenous literature are most often directed at how to improve the professionalism of non-Indigenous editors. </p>
<p>In same vein, I offer the following suggestions to non-Indigenous editors new to Indigenous cultures, vernaculars, authors and manuscripts.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Make your first round of notes to yourself rather than on the manuscript – because your notes are probably questions arising from your outsider status and your own gaps of knowledge.</p></li>
<li><p>Immerse yourself in Indigenous-led cultural environments – festivals, public talks, theatre and celebrations – to learn something of the broader cultural context your formal learning may have left absent.</p></li>
<li><p>Do desktop research on basic facts of history that your formal learning may also have left absent.</p></li>
<li><p>Read widely, including of diverse genres and of Indigenous-authored works.</p></li>
<li><p>Ask questions of the author, but avoid interrogations. Contextualise your questions with reference to what you think you understand and what you don’t understand – do the work to decentre your dominant cultural position and allow the text to work you and work on you.</p></li>
<li><p>Acknowledge your role as a “first reader”, but avoid centring yourself as a proxy for a mainstream readership who you say won’t understand Indigenous voice. What is the point of publishing Indigenous authors, if not for our unique Indigenous voices?</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sensitivity-readers-matter-and-should-be-paid-properly-183531">Why sensitivity readers matter – and should be paid properly</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How Indigenous editors can make a book better</h2>
<p>What about the rarer case of an Indigenous editor and non-Indigenous author? When I first sat down as a trainee editor at Magabala Books, that was me. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482872/original/file-20220906-22-yqnvzm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>I was reading a manuscript that should have worked for me: a synthesis of oral and archival history collaborated between an Aboriginal story custodian and a White historian. It was a dramatic retelling of an Aboriginal resistance history and its key fighter. <a href="https://www.magabala.com/products/jandamarra-and-the-bunuba-resistance">Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance</a> had all the things I loved to read about.</p>
<p>But something wasn’t sitting right. Instead of swinging into the text with the proofreading symbols I was eagerly learning, I sat with that manuscript and I started identifying where I was uncomfortable: citing pages and phrases and crafting corresponding questions. A lot of questions – paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter. I had so many questions, I produced a separate report. From my perspective, the manuscript read as being apologist for colonist views.</p>
<p>My persistence was rewarded with a stunning authorial rewrite – and the book then won the Historical and Critical Studies Award in the 1996 WA Premier’s Literary Awards. While the Magabala Books website now records the book as “sold out”, my PhD research found that 15 years after first publication, the book was still in print and being sold by tourist operators as a way for travellers to better understand the Kimberley region. I was, at the time of first publication, pretty chuffed with the author’s acknowledgement of my mediated interventions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When the manuscript appeared ready for print a new editor gave it a rigorous final critique. Sandra Phillips seemed to know exactly the questions to ask. As a result the manuscript was refined to the point where I am happy for its release. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482863/original/file-20220906-5279-dr49cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Windjana Gorge in the Kimberley region where Jandamarra lived.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to journalist and author George Megalogenis, Australia <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/root-and-branch-renewal-as-australia-makes-migrant-majority-history-20220629-p5axo0.html">has made history</a> as the first English-speaking nation to become a majority migrant nation. He sees urgent need for a “unifying story for the 21st century”, which might be found in the Indigenous “roots of our family tree”. While some Indigenous people might argue that all non-Indigenous people are migrants, it is worth reflecting on this. </p>
<p>What is our “unifying story”? We are a long way from a national literature overflowing with stories from Indigenous writers, storytellers, creatives and communities. A national literature thus overflowing may not bring about a story that unifies but it could reveal a modern nation-state much more at ease with Indigenous voice – an eradication of <em>vox nullius</em> to accompany the eradication of <em>terra nullius</em>. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: this article originally stated that Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance won the Historical and Critical Studies Award in the 2006 WA Premier’s Literary Awards, but it won that award in 1996; this has now been amended.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Phillips receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Fewer than 1% of Australian publishing professionals identify as First Nations. We need better representation to authentically represent First Nations voices. Sandra Phillips explains why – and how.Sandra Phillips, Associate Dean (Indigenous Engagement), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1881642022-08-04T00:28:00Z2022-08-04T00:28:00ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: Tom Calma on the Indigenous Voice to parliament<p>The Albanese government has released the draft wording for enshrining an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the constitution. Anthony Albanese is making a referendum a priority but history tells us how hard these are to pass. </p>
<p>Tom Calma, Chancellor of the University of Canberra, has been a leading participant in Indigenous affairs for many years. He and professor Marcia Langton prepared a report for the Morrison government on the Voice. They recommended a Voice structure involving local and regional levels as well as the national level. </p>
<p>The Albanese government has not spelled out a detailed model for the Voice it proposes, but the extensive consultations Calma and Langton undertook produced insights that will help shape the conversations ahead.</p>
<p>“We’ve got to understand that when we talk about the Voice through referendum changes to the Australian constitution, [it] is only about Commonwealth legislation and not about state and territory legislation,” Calma tells the podcast.</p>
<p>He says during the consultation process, people said “we support a national voice, but don’t forget us at the local and regional level, because that’s where all the action takes place”. </p>
<p>“When we look at education, employment, health service delivery, all of that takes place under a state or territory jurisdictional level, supplemented by funding from the Commonwealth. It’s administered through the states and territories by and large.”</p>
<p>Calma says regional groups could “do the canvassing of the membership and push that up to the national-level voice”.</p>
<p>“There needs to be these other regional level arrangements and all the [federal] government needs to do is to agree to that – and then the dialogue can start with the states and territory governments to build up what form it might take.</p>
<p>"But none of this is coming out cold because in every state and territory, they’ve already got some form of arrangement. And this is really about saying, how do we maximise the impact of the current arrangements, give them a secretariat, give them some guidance and support and make it an inclusive body?”.</p>
<p>The proposed Voice, Calma stresses, “is about giving an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person’s perspective on that new legislation. But it has no other authority to veto or to direct politicians on how to think. This is only an advisory body and to make comment, so we have formal input by Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people into legislation that most affects us.”</p>
<p>Calma says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people “don’t always speak with the same voice and we all have different experiences, we represent different demographics and so forth.” </p>
<p>He rejects the argument that a Voice isn’t needed because there are 11 Indigenous members of the federal parliament. “We can’t expect that the elected politicians […] are going to be able to give a view for all Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.”</p>
<p>“What we envisage is that the Voice […] will be able to work with the bureaucrats in providing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective to bills, so that by the time [legislation] reaches parliament a lot of the issues might already be sorted out […] Once that relationship with Commonwealth agencies and departments starts to mature, hopefully those departments and agencies will work with the Voice group to look at their existing policies and programmes.”</p>
<p>“The Voice would not be usurping the role of any existing organisation. It would be about partnership, it’s about capacity development, it’s about inclusion.”</p>
<p>“I’m very confident that we could work cooperatively with the parliaments of the day - and that’s both the federal and the state and territory parliaments - for the betterment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra.</span></em></p>Michelle Grattan speaks with Tom Calma, Chancellor of the University of Canberra, who has been a leading participant in Indigenous affairs for many years, about the Voice to parliament referendum proposal.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1871102022-07-21T20:23:10Z2022-07-21T20:23:10ZFriday essay: 30 years after Mabo, what do Australia’s battler stories – and their evasions – say about who we are?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475304/original/file-20220721-18-m6v206.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C5%2C3988%2C1988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mabo-decision-and-native-title-74147">Mabo decision</a> in 1992
was a turning point for Australia. It finally overturned the dishonest doctrine of <em>terra nullius</em> and recognised Indigenous land rights. It was a moment of hope, accompanied by a productive tension.</p>
<p>Mabo followed a decade in which awareness of the need to address Indigenous dispossession had grown. In the preceding years, sectors of the (white) settler population had begun to distance themselves from a triumphalist, uncritical view of the past. They had finally stopped looking away.</p>
<p>They had stopped looking away from shocking dispossession, disregard, and dismissal of the nation’s First Peoples. From the pretences of equality, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-australia-land-of-the-fair-go-not-everyone-gets-an-equal-slice-of-the-pie-70480">fair go</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/mateship-might-sound-blokey-but-our-research-shows-women-value-it-more-highly-than-men-169154">mateship</a>. From the flattening of intersections of identity such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-the-census-ask-about-race-its-not-a-simple-question-and-may-reinforce-racial-thinking-185295">race</a>, cultural backgrounds; and sexualities other than heteronormative. </p>
<p>An important cultural conflict, out in the open, seemed imminent. It would have been healthy.</p>
<p>Paul Keating broached some of that necessary conversation in the December 1992 <a href="https://antar.org.au/sites/default/files/paul_keating_speech_transcript.pdf">Redfern Park Speech</a>. Although that speech has been over-eulogised since, it was the first time that a prime minister used the pronoun “we”, naming settler Australians as the ones who needed to shift their attitudes and behaviour and take responsibility.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LAFaHP6w6tE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Paul Keating’s Redfern Park Speech was the first time a prime minister used “we”, recognising responsibility for invasion.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Comfortable and relaxed’ evasion</h2>
<p>But the Mabo judgement also sparked a backlash which in 1996 contributed to the election of a new prime minister. John Howard immediately set about <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-10217">urging Australians</a> to feel “comfortable and relaxed” about the past. Howard shifted the “We” of Keating to “Us” (and “Them”). </p>
<p>Since then, Howard’s masterful weaponisation of “us and them” as a cornerstone of national identity has influenced debates in literary and artistic circles. He transitioned the Australian psyche from Menzies’ <a href="http://www.liberals.net/theforgottenpeople.htm">forgotten people</a> to Howard’s <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/howards-battlers-a-broad-church-20040519-gdxvk8.html">battlers</a> – who eventually became the Morrison <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_quiet_Australians">quiet Australians</a> of the past four years. </p>
<p>Conservative governments have held office for the lion’s share of the 30 years since 1992. Their politicians have historically pitted those who are interested in advancing conversations (and genuine dialogues) around class, racial, and gendered equity against the “ordinary” Australian – usually still imagined as a white settler. </p>
<p>The robust public discussions around intersectionality, equity and diversity – along with social justice agendas and displays of ethnic identity and pride – that were coming to be considered healthy in a pre-Howard era were repositioned as a divisive “them” discourse. They still are.</p>
<p>I want to unwind the post-Mabo climate, and the continuing evasion legacy of the Howard years in settler writing, through examining some settler texts (the storytelling emerging from settler colonialism) spanning the late 1990s to where we are today, in 2022. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/live-streamed-event-top-thinkers-explore-the-life-and-legacy-of-eddie-mabo-186543">Live-streamed event: Top thinkers explore the life and legacy of Eddie Mabo</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Castle, Mabo and Howard’s ‘Us-Australians’</h2>
<p>In 1997, a film hit Australian cinemas that nailed the Howard ethos and represented the “Us-Australians”. It set the blueprint for the largely flatliner, non-intersectional, evasive textual conversation to follow. The film was <a href="https://theconversation.com/straight-to-the-pool-room-a-love-letter-to-the-castle-on-its-25th-anniversary-176361">The Castle</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man stands under a plane, hands on hips, in front of a house" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475083/original/file-20220720-26-kemjmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The original 1997 film poster for The Castle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Castle is the story of the Kerrigan family – portrayed as an ordinary, clean-living, working-class family in western Melbourne. The family live in a ramshackle home they have built themselves, just a few metres from Melbourne Airport in Tullamarine. </p>
<p>When their family home is condemned by a building inspector and plans are revealed, showing that the property is to become part of a government-planned expansion of airspace, the family enter a legal battle to save their family home. The plot of the film revolves around this battle.</p>
<p>25 years on, the timing of this film and its post-Mabo message are worth unwinding.</p>
<p>The film’s narrative verifies gender binaries, heteronormativity, larrikinism, healthy scepticism, surface egalitarianism and manual-hands-on type jobs. It verifies minimal engagement with national/current affairs, mateship, and the great Aussie illusion of luck and chance. It reflects minimum diversity always matched with jibes at difference, masked as humour (e.g. “the wogs next-door”). And it valorises an attachment to the Australian dream of private property, represented through a small corner of Australia – the suburban backyard.</p>
<p>Comic as The Castle may be, its overt ideology can be interpreted critically as enacting a self-reflexivity on the part of the viewer: a <em>how-would-you-feel-if-you-were-the-Kerrigan-family</em> moment. It undermines the disengagement from politics, national and current affairs that was being encouraged from late 1990s Australia, which is still persistent in popular settler texts. But it also enacts a disengagement with “other Australians who don’t have any property to start with”. It’s a story for the propertied only.</p>
<p>Daryl Kerrigan makes a brief and fleeting reference to “knowing how the Aborigines feel”, in having land stolen. It’s poised as a statement spoken to the nation for brief consideration, as if Daryl is saying it for everyone. His wife’s dismissal with “have you been drinking?” and Daryl’s short rejoinder, “people have got to stop stealing other people’s land in this country”, are striking for the way the sentence is allowed to hang – inviting the rest of the “Us-Australians” to whom John Howard was talking to finish the statement. Moreover, the audience can.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qFr2Gh6yIyQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Daryl Kerrigan’s reference to ‘knowing how the Aborigines feel’ in having their land stolen is poised as if for brief consideration.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I think it is no accident that the moment is poised and framed this way: to allow the viewer time for a quick mental calculation between their “little piece of Australia” and the vast tracts of Australian First Nations land that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTtlHZxigOY">Howard’s government positioned</a> as “under threat from Native Title” when he used a pendulum to describe Australia’s swing towards recognition of First Nations sovereignty (and the need to address it through the 1996 <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00010323.pdf">Wik Ten-Point Plan</a>).</p>
<p>What doesn’t Daryl Kerrigan say? Where does he not go? Which people and whose land? Which land has got to stop getting stolen? And when it’s got to stop? And what of the intersections of identity, and the entanglements between First Nations peoples, settlers, and many different diasporas to Australia since – left unexplored in this statement, in this text – who have been largely evaded in Australian mainstream literature since?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GTtlHZxigOY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">John Howard claimed on the 7.30 Report, in 1997, that 78% of Australia’s landmass was under threat from Native Title claims.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also – how polite is the text? It’s the ultra-genteel working-class backbone of Australia on display. Howard ushered in, and his legacy left, an era of the dangerous politics of settler civility – the language of euphemism and evasion.</p>
<p>There’s nothing about the Kerrigan family that threatens the status quo of the “Australian Dream” and the mythscape of a united nation. </p>
<p>The Kerrigans’ challenge to the system is positioned as a healthy insurgence – the Kerrigans’ quarter acre is inconsequential to the state. Their win is positioned as a concession to a good family by a benevolent system. The film glorifies white crime as Aussie <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-larrikin-lives-on-as-a-conservative-politician-168464">larrikinism</a> – there’s a son in jail, a scene with a firearm, a scene where a truck is used to tear down someone’s front gate. </p>
<p>The film upholds a landmark case, for which and whose land (or property) really is sacred in post-Mabo Australia – and it’s not First Nations land. At a time when right-wing politicians and newspapers were arguing against native title, The Castle sold a story to a nervous nation that was quite reassuring.</p>
<p>Think about the casting. How would these roles fly with a family that’s anything other than white? What sort of appeal would the film have had (and still have) if the family at the centre, fighting for their piece of land, were Aboriginal? Or Lebanese? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475078/original/file-20220720-26-cklqel.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How would the characters of The Castle – and their actions – play with a cast that wasn’t white?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Can you imagine the different reaction if a First Nations protagonist or a protagonist of Islamic heritage had pulled down the gates to someone else’s property in a tow-truck, or pulled a gun on someone? Would it be funny then? </p>
<p>Imagine a First Nations family being as relaxed as the Kerrigans are about their son – or anyone – being incarcerated. An audit of secondary social science and humanities curricula that I undertook in 2020 revealed that The Castle is the most taught text in units relating to identity and culture in Australian high schools. This film is a canonised text for Australian settler identity.</p>
<p>At the end of the Howard era, Australia’s Indigenous population was in a ruinous state. Australia’s extraordinary natural environment was threatened on numerous fronts, and its people were beginning to ask where the wealth had gone. Public schools and public health were in crisis, social welfare was decimated, housing was unaffordable for many, and wages and conditions were being cut under Howard’s industrial reforms.</p>
<p>At the height of the 2001 election, when 400 refugees were rescued from a sinking boat and left stranded in the tropical heat on the deck of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mv-tampa-and-the-transformation-of-asylum-seeker-policy-74078">Tampa</a>, Howard publicly refused permission to land the refugees in Australia. His immigration and defence ministers claimed that refugees had thrown their children overboard, leading Howard to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/a-bit-of-empathy-wouldnt-go-amiss-20040817-gdjkbs.html">declare</a>: “I don’t want people like that in Australia.” Only after the election was it proven that the government had known the claim was false. </p>
<p>Truth became an inconvenient detail from here on. We entered an era of <a href="https://theconversation.com/post-truth-politics-and-why-the-antidote-isnt-simply-fact-checking-and-truth-87364">post-truth</a>. The nation’s already murky relationship with its hidden truths – its <a href="https://theconversation.com/of-course-australia-was-invaded-massacres-happened-here-less-than-90-years-ago-55377">settlement by invasion</a>, massacre and cultural genocide, and the continued <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-wont-recognise-indigenous-customary-law-60370">legal fiction of terra nullius</a> – were relegated to the spectre of irresolution that hangs over of the nation.</p>
<p>At the heart of the legacy of Howard’s 11-year era is an unease, and (dis) ease – something deeper that Australians would perhaps rather not admit. For a decade, Howard’s power had resided in his ability to speak directly and powerfully to the great negativity at the core of the Australian soul. Its timidity, its conformity, its fear of other people and new ideas. Its colonial desire to ape rather than lead – and its shame (which sometimes seems close to a terror) of the uniqueness of its land and people. </p>
<p>The country was frightened: unready for the great changes it must make, and ill-fitted for the robust debates it must have.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/post-truth-politics-and-why-the-antidote-isnt-simply-fact-checking-and-truth-87364">Post-truth politics and why the antidote isn't simply 'fact-checking' and truth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Alexis Wright’s overtly political, ‘distinctly First Nations’ debut novel</h2>
<p>Released in 1997, the same year as The Castle, paralleling the narrative of “Us”, was <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/plains-of-promise">Plains of Promise</a>, the debut novel by Waanyi writer <a href="https://theconversation.com/alexis-wright-wins-2018-stella-prize-for-tracker-an-epic-feat-of-aboriginal-storytelling-94906">Alexis Wright</a>. </p>
<p>Alexis’s work arrived with much less fanfare – it was neither subtle nor polite, amid its intricate plot and beautifully crafted words in the language of the coloniser. Plains of Promise spoke to the “Them” – those “other Australians” outside of the “Us” that Howard claimed to be governing for. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475077/original/file-20220720-15-bud0gi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<p>Plains of Promise is a story of mothers and daughters who endure and survive a series of colonial interventions. A story of the intergenerational trauma of separation, dispossession from land, and repeated sexual assaults of Aboriginal women at the hands of white men and black men who have internalised the worst of settler behaviours. The novel ends with a powerful allegory that alludes to a precarious future for First Nations peoples under conservative governments. </p>
<p>Wright’s narrative is a brutal parody of settler texts like The Castle, and the Howard-Australian mythscape that evoked Russell Ward’s <a href="https://insidestory.org.au/the-legend-turns-fifty/">Australian Legend</a> of egalitarianism, mateship, larrikinism, anti-intellectualism, and healthy, non-threatening anti-authoritarianism. </p>
<p>Plains of Promise posits an overtly political, distinctly First Nations, and determinedly fictional and literary account of Indigenous peoples’ experiences in Australia. It’s a text that writes at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-intersectionality-mean-104937">intersectionality</a> of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, chauvinism; and all that hover in the spectre of irresolution and dis-ease above the nation – and the bearing that these intersections and entanglements have on the First Nations, Waanyi protagonists of the novel. </p>
<p>With its particular focus on the way the intersections of sexism, classism, ableism, and racism impact the lives and futures of Waanyi women, Plains of Promise is the total antithesis of: <em>A man’s home is his castle!</em> Alexis achieves this through making First Nations identities visible and complex, and by highlighting ongoing colonial dispossession and struggles for land rights and recognition.</p>
<p>We are now living under the spectre of post-Howard euphemisms that locate truth as divisive. First Nations people are labelled as rude or confrontational if we point out cultural chauvinism in settler language or call out skin privilege or white fragility. Under Howard and his “Us-Australians”, charges of “identity politics” were levelled against “Them-Australians” – and identity politics were positioned as both anti-Australian and anti-art. This remains the case.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/read-listen-understand-why-non-indigenous-australians-should-read-first-nations-writing-78925">Read, listen, understand: why non-Indigenous Australians should read First Nations writing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>All writing is identity politics</h2>
<p>Attacks on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-conservatives-use-identity-politics-to-shut-down-debate-89026">“identity politics”</a> and the construction of an ideological hard binary between ethnic identity and art and literature are legacies of post-Howardism. Yet the idea that any artwork or piece of literature is free of cultural value is mythical and warrants interrogation.</p>
<p>Some terms are used a lot, but rarely deconstructed – like the slippery charge of “identity politics” in art and literature. So, the scientists have been telling us for some time that <a href="https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics-reshaping-race-debate-21st-century/">the concept of race is dead</a>. I don’t dispute what it all looks like under a microscope, but socially and politically, the term and all its connotations are alive and well – in literature, art, music, policy. And the terms “race” and “culture” are conflated in Australian discourse. </p>
<p>Together, these words drive Australian national policy and historical discourse. The politics of race, the politics of skin privilege and the politics of representation have been cornerstones of Australian policy and practice since invasion. Literature is the handmaiden who tells this tale. White identity politics is the most dominant force of production in Australian settler literary culture. </p>
<p>Charges of identity politics impeding art have only entered the public space since First Nations people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities have infiltrated the space, and now use it and some of the “tools” it affords to tell their own tales – or stories. </p>
<p>These presences challenge the unspoken identity of white-settlerism and make identities explicit – and explicitly political, as they have been politicised in public discourse. Charges of “identity politics” come from those who now have to concede space – and see themselves represented, not always to their own liking, in someone else’s picture or story.</p>
<p>All creative pieces are identity politics in some way or other. All writing is identity politics: from a shopping list to a treatise on government and all in-between. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-black-lives-matter-movement-has-provoked-a-cultural-reckoning-about-how-black-stories-are-told-149544">The Black Lives Matter movement has provoked a cultural reckoning about how Black stories are told</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Popular settler texts, post-Mabo</h2>
<p>So, how am I reading the settler landscape of influential writing post-Mabo, and in the aftermath of Howardism? Influence is decided by the literary economy of prizes, and the public visibility of a text.</p>
<p>In the main, settler texts are still repurposed, largely intersectionless battler narratives, where the protagonists battle different obstacles depending on the times. Or, as Sujatha Fernandes put it so well in <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/cummins-american-dirt-krien-act-of-grace/">her 2019 essay</a> for the Sydney Review of Books, they are “great white social justice narratives”. Though they may read as concern, really the writer should be yielding space for those they are so concerned about to speak, write or tell their own stories.</p>
<p>Popular settler literature in post Mabo-Australia (and literature on the border between literary and popular) still loves to be a “good battler narrative”. The best battler is the battler who succeeds. The one who is aspirational within a recognisable setting. </p>
<p>And the best battler narrative re-enforces a meritocracy and the myth of a classless, raceless, society, where intersectionality is irrelevant. It continues to erase deeper, more complex, and contested histories of place. It’s a place that flattens or erases intersectionality – racial/cultural background, orientation/sexuality (what is your pronoun?), age, ability, religion/spirituality, socio-economic class – and the complex and contested histories of place.</p>
<p>What can we learn about contemporary Australia from its popularly and critically acclaimed novels – and their success? This is a question that critics and reviewers have been reluctant to broach. Critics tend to avoid writing about popular works, as part of an intra-cultural cringe. </p>
<p>But by refusing to engage, they’re in danger of writing into a blinkered, self-informed space that reproduces a very narrow view of Australian national identity and the values it perpetuates in its literature.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-larrikin-lives-on-as-a-conservative-politician-168464">The larrikin lives on — as a conservative politician</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Trent Dalton’s superficial melting pot</h2>
<p>A popular writer is the public’s barometer. The optimistically conservative view of national identity – Australianness if you like – that was aired in The Castle 25 years ago has carried through to the popular literature of the moment. You only need to look at Trent Dalton. </p>
<p>Unlike many popular, big-selling Australian authors, Dalton’s writing has been listed for prestigious awards. His first novel, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460757765/boy-swallows-universe/">Boy Swallows Universe</a>, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2019. At the NSW Premier’s Prizes, it won the Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, and the People’s Choice Award, and was shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475079/original/file-20220720-12-sgbr12.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1163&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The plot of Boy Swallows Universe revolves around the coming of age of teenager Eli Bell – son of a heroin-addicted mother, an alcoholic father, a drug-dealing stepfather; and brother to Gus, an elective mute since age six. As the story unfolds, Eli overcomes many obstacles and learns much about being ‘street-wise’ from his babysitter Slim, a convicted murderer. The plot is driven by Eli’s largely individualistic quest to determine what a “good man” is.</p>
<p>Boy Swallows Universe <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/dalton-shimmering-skies-boy-swallows-universe/">is apparently</a> the fastest-selling Australian debut novel ever published. With one exception I’ve found, reviewers have been laudatory. The labels of “literariness” could be because both Dalton’s works are laced with literary allusions, and brief and fleeting references to western classics. For example, an orphaned teenager, Molly, carries The Collected Works of Shakespeare in their duffle bag; Eli is well versed in the 20th-century white male canon, and often bursts into optimistic streams of consciousness, in a way that is meant to evoke <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-wonder-of-joyces-ulysses-79417">James Joyce</a>. </p>
<p>Such literary allusions and references reassure readers that these works and their protagonists are literary, despite the grungy realism of the settings; and that the western literary canon endures.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/dalton-shimmering-skies-boy-swallows-universe/">one critical review</a> I could find (in the Sydney Review of Books), settler critic Catriona Menzies Pike described Dalton as the “Scott Morrison writer” of the decade. Howard’s “battlers” segues seamlessly into Morrison’s quiet Australians who <em>have a go to get a go</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475080/original/file-20220720-18-opd0m0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460759325/all-our-shimmering-skies/">All Our Shimmering Skies</a> is Dalton’s second novel. Set in Darwin in 1942, it’s about teenager Molly Hook’s quest to remove a curse she believes was cast on her family by an Aboriginal man called Longcoat Bob. To me as an Aboriginal reader, Longcoat Bob, penned in 2020, resonates with an ongoing colonial trope – that of the part-Aboriginal (sic) child, and the black witch-doctor-sorcerer stereotype in settler literature. From Marbuck in Charles Chauvel’s 1955 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048227/">Jedda the Uncivilised</a> to Bobwirridirridi in Xavier Herbert’s Miles Franklin award-winning work <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460703243/poor-fellow-my-country/">Poor Fellow My Country</a> (published in 1975), through to Craig Silvey’s <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Craig-Silvey-Jasper-Jones-9781742372624">Jasper Jones</a>, 2009 – the trope lives on.</p>
<p>In Shimmering Skies, the “our” pronoun, in Dalton’s hands, becomes a conduit for a melting pot. Evoking the language of evasion and euphemism, a group of “diverse” people – whose differences are superficially and stereotypically represented throughout – can put all differences (which aren’t explored anyway) aside and unite under common symbols, traditions, and icons.</p>
<p>We’re given a painless, quick, sentimental version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-courage-to-feel-uncomfortable-what-australians-need-to-learn-to-achieve-real-reconciliation-183914">reconciliation</a> that basically involves finding aspects of settlement to celebrate – with no basis whatsoever for land rights or reparative justice. Readers are presented with chess-set characters in starry campfire scenes that bring together Yukio, a Japanese pilot; Greta, a woman of German heritage; Molly, an orphaned teen; and her Aboriginal friend Sam, as they discover their common humanity as bombs explode in the sky. </p>
<p>Catriona Menzies Pike <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/dalton-shimmering-skies-boy-swallows-universe/">writes</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dalton presents a national domain in which no obstacle is too great for an earnest and well-intentioned individual to overcome on their own. There is seemingly no ill in the world that can’t be sentimentalised by Dalton: prison life, addiction, violence, colonialism. There is no insight into contemporary life here, just fantasy built on nostalgia and dishonest nationalism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies offer Hollywood endings, where kids haul themselves up and out of poverty and disempowerment, through strength of will and character. </p>
<p>These stories give literary and social value to a narrative that relies on and reinforces pernicious, dangerous, and untrue ideas about poverty and social marginalisation – mainly, that it requires nothing more than effort to get out of it. Socio-economic success and security simply become questions of individual moral fortitude, altruism, and determination. Systemic structural failures are not called into question.</p>
<p>The only role for First Nations and people of colour in Dalton’s national epic is to advance the plot. The people brought together under the shimmering skies are settlers. All Our Shimmering Skies wants a quick and easy, group-hug reconciliation – but the text doesn’t want to recognise the violence of settler colonialism and ongoing dispossession. </p>
<p>In his fiction, Dalton refuses to acknowledge that there’s anything structural about the suffering his characters must endure. There’s no room for state intervention or reform in these worlds. </p>
<p>Both works unequivocally disseminate the same intensely conservative vision of nationhood and identity as The Castle. </p>
<p>Ethnic and gender stereotypes abound – but as Menzies-Pike points out, the difficult questions about representation and cultural appropriation that are recently being asked of literary authors have not been raised in relation to Dalton’s fiction. Such issues are seldom raised in relation to popular fiction because it is too easily dismissed. </p>
<h2>Ignoring the popular makes us ‘part of the problem’</h2>
<p>Different sets of rules apply to popular (or genre) fiction and literary fiction. Definitions tend to centre around literary fiction being more driven by character and theme, while popular commercial fiction is driven by plot and lots of action – and distinguished by higher book sales. </p>
<p>Whether it is clever marketing on the part of publishers, or whether it is driven by intellectual snobbery and elitism, the divide between popular (or genre) and literary fiction leads to a disconnect between what is being read and internalised by the public, and what is being analysed as good literature. </p>
<p>This separation between “literature” and the rest of culture is unhelpful. Popular culture should be held to the same high standards as literary authors – which means that critics, academics and the rest of the self-selected elite need to properly engage with it. If they do, they will unpack what is driving its mass appeal.</p>
<p>Nurturing critical thinking is the responsibility of all of us who read literature and care about issues of representation. All of us who care about exposing and addressing structural inequalities and systematic discrimination. If we only focus on changing the “literary” culture we read, but ignore what mainstream Australia is reading, then we’re part of the problem of Australia’s continuing evasion discourse.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-courage-to-feel-uncomfortable-what-australians-need-to-learn-to-achieve-real-reconciliation-183914">The courage to feel uncomfortable: what Australians need to learn to achieve real reconciliation</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeanine Leane receives funding from ARC grants. </span></em></p>What do popular ‘settler’ Australian stories like The Castle and Trent Dalton’s books say about who we are? What do they evade? Jeanine Leane investigates the state of post-Mabo Australian literature.Jeanine Leane, Associate Professor In Creative Writing, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1854982022-06-26T19:58:41Z2022-06-26T19:58:41ZPaul Daley’s Jesustown: a novel of lurid, postcolonial truth-telling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470448/original/file-20220623-51568-zm6z1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jesustown is a fictional mission in Arnhem Land.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How can fiction contribute to the “truth” that the <a href="https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/">Uluru Statement</a> asks us to tell? Allen and Unwin’s answer to that question is, in part, one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratext">paratext</a>. By composing a book’s paratext, a publisher addresses the reader about how to experience the book. The paratext of Paul Daley’s Jesustown includes 12 signed commendations on the first four pages and a four-page “Author Note” at the end of the story.</p>
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<p><em>Review: Jesustown - Paul Daley (Allen & Unwin)</em></p>
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<p>Four of the commendations beckon readers towards redemption. Novelist Chris Hammer discovered “the possibility of redemption” in Jesustown and journalist Tony Wright sees “tough redemption” in it. For academic John Carty, the novel eschews “neat redemption”. In author Nigel Featherstone’s view, Jesustown is “part of the movement that will set things right”.</p>
<p>The publisher is thus offering Jesustown to a public that acknowledges the necessity and possibility of its own redemption.</p>
<p>The book’s pervasive mood is remorse. Three male characters – an anguished <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality">patriline</a> – are central to Jesustown, and in the partatext we are urged, as a nation reading, to share in their shame. Each of these three men has done things that he broods upon, and two of them narrate these deeds in the first person.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-indigenous-songs-recount-deep-histories-of-trade-between-australia-and-southeast-asia-123867">Friday essay: how Indigenous songs recount deep histories of trade between Australia and Southeast Asia</a>
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<h2>Self-loathing</h2>
<p>The predominant narrator is an Australian historian, Patrick Renmark, appointed to a British university. His marriage has just collapsed because his wife Cate will not forgive his affair with Merridy, an archivist. Patrick’s attempt to sever himself from Merridy has contributed to the death of Cate and Patrick’s son, Bee. </p>
<p>Just how this catastrophe has come about is revealed gradually to the reader by Patrick’s self-loathing story, starting with the book’s opening sentence: </p>
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<p>How does it feel to lose the three people you love the most?</p>
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<p>One of the novel’s narrative drivers is the reader’s desire to know just how a seduction in the stacks of a military history archive could end in Bee’s funeral, the book’s opening scene.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470173/original/file-20220622-17-s4p8bq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Patrick’s deceased father is Luke Renmark and his deceased grandfather (that is, Luke’s father) is the anthropologist Nathaniel Renmark (also known to Patrick as “Pa” and to others as “Rennie”). Luke does not narrate himself, but from two sources we learn much about how life (overbearing father, military service in the second world war) has crippled his spirit. </p>
<p>One source is Patrick himself, recalling Luke as an emotionally distant father; the other is Pa’s taped autobiography, in which Pa presents Luke as little more than a patriarch’s disappointment.</p>
<p>As the ancestral figure in this unhappy lineage, Nathaniel is thus a character and (for much of the novel) narrator of great psychological interest – both to the reader and to Patrick. Daley allows Nathaniel/Pa plenty of pages to narrate his deeds – via autobiographical cassettes that Patrick discovers in Pa’s archive in Jesustown.</p>
<p>Acquiring the knowledge to write Pa’s biography brings Patrick more pain than any project he has ever attempted. As Patrick’s narrative is mostly in first person and in the present tense, each revelation is a moment of suffering, and for much of the novel Daley offers the reader no emotional space but that of his suffering/knowing protagonist.</p>
<p>Although Patrick’s books are popular, he is not respected as a historian – by his colleagues and, increasingly, by himself. He has sometimes defied such judgement by calling himself a “story-ist” rather than a historian. His books sell well because they reinforce and embellish readers’ cherished tales about Australia and its conventional heroes. </p>
<p>Will readers devoted to Patrick’s tales not relish another ripping yarn – this time about Nathaniel Renmark? He (Pa) is already famous as the swashbuckling saviour of The People (Daley’s term for the First Nations residents of Jesustown).</p>
<p>By writing articles for the southern capital newspapers, explaining The People’s perspective and exposing the Australian government’s plans, Nathaniel had made it politically unattractive for the government to punish them, en masse, for killing Japanese sailors that had come ashore in their homeland and police that came to arrest the culprits. </p>
<p>Readers of Jesustown who know Ted Egan’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/446702.Justice_All_Their_Own?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=a2rOdSvedv&rank=1">Justice All Their Own: The Caledon Bay and Woodah Island Killings 1932–1933</a> (1996) will recognise the Arnhem Land events and some of the characters re-imagined by Daley. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-great-australian-silence-50-years-on-100737">Friday essay: the 'great Australian silence' 50 years on</a>
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<h2>Complicity</h2>
<p>As Patrick mines Pa’s archive and as he examines and relives the mistakes of his own life (releasing more and more tawdry detail to the reader), Patrick realises that “story-ism” will not be enough, for the archive reveals Pa’s complexity. </p>
<p>Not only did Pa neglect his family in Melbourne in order to become champion and explainer of The People, he then persuaded scientists to study The People. </p>
<p>These visitors from the United States turned out to be unscrupulous collectors. Pa’s portion of the family burden is that he was unable to stop scientists from robbing human remains. (Daley is here drawing on histories of Australia-US collaborations in the 1930s and 1940s.)</p>
<p>By confessing his complicity from the grave, Pa thus challenges Patrick’s authorial manhood. A biography of Nathaniel Renmark must be an “Australian story” of anguished complexity – something Patrick has never previously attempted. Has he got a historian’s moral and intellectual capacity? Rather than render Pa in a “story-ist” way, Patrick must recognise his obligation to be honest to the nation and to himself. </p>
<p>To align this anti-hero’s duty to self and duty to nation is Daley’s primary moral purpose in Jesustown. His narrative tactics – so confessional, so in-the-moment, alternating between Patrick’s betrayals and Pa’s – hold the reader within an inter-generational space suffused with shame, regret, and disavowed desire. </p>
<p>In his “Author Note”, Daley (a Guardian journalist) warns that while Jesustown “is informed by some actual events […] it is not history and shouldn’t be read as such”. </p>
<p>Nathaniel, while a “composite” of actual persons (I can see a mashup of <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mountford-charles-pearcy-11188">Charles Mountford</a>, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/thomson-donald-finlay-fergusson-11851">Donald Thomson</a>, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gribble-ernest-richard-bulmer-ernie-10367">Ernest Gribble</a>, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tindale-norman-barnett-29608">Norman Tindale </a> and others) is, he writes, “heavily instructed by my imagination”, and “I don’t know of an Australian writer/historian quite as flawed as Patrick”.</p>
<p>These disclaimers offset the commendation by Bronwyn Carlson (<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bronwyn-carlson-136214">Professor of Indigenous Studies</a>) that to read Jesustown is to “recognise the characters”. Perhaps she means as types?</p>
<p>Daley makes clear that he intends his novel to be true in one respect. In the course of Daley’s research, <a href="https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/john.carty">John Carty</a>, Head of Humanities, South Australian Museum, showed him the boxed remains of 4600 Aboriginal people in that Museum. Daley found it to be “evidence […] of a vast colonial crime scene”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470444/original/file-20220623-51794-ukl5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An image from December 6, 2021, of final preparations being made for the first reburial ceremony of Kaurna Aboriginal remains, previously held by the South Australian Museum, at the Kaurna Wangayarta Memorial Park at Smithfield in Adelaide’s north.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">South Australian Museum</span></span>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-indigenous-afterlives-in-britain-171479">Friday essay: Indigenous afterlives in Britain</a>
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<h2>Insistent framing</h2>
<p>Commendations of Jesustown included by Allen and Unwin accordingly inflect the novel as an indictment of the nation. Carty praises Daley for making “this barbarous truth of Australian history […] painfully personal”. </p>
<p>The historian Mark McKenna finds it “unflinching in its gaze” and to author Jock Serong, the novel offers “unflinching examination of the truths white Australia refuses to acknowledge”. Tony Wright applauds its “desperate secrets and hard truths”. The ABC’s Michael Brissenden sees the book as dissecting “the arrogance of white history and generations of moral failure”. </p>
<p>The task of the paratext of Jesustown is thus to reconcile its fictionality with truth.</p>
<p>A less lurid historical novel would not require such insistent framing. Daley is not Kate Grenville. He writes fluently, and he skilfully paces his revelations, but his moral imagination is too passionate to risk complicating either the critical narrative of Australia’s colonial history or the feminist psychology of manhood. </p>
<p>You will get pleasure from Jesustown if your expectation of truth-telling includes being predisposed to demonise anthropologists, missionaries and philandering men and to cherish women and First Nations people as humanity’s best hope.</p>
<p>Jesustown is a reminder that to the extent that post-colonial truth-telling proliferates, it will be blessed with moments of kitsch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Michael Rowse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tim Rowse concludes that Paul Daley’s new novel, inspired by true events in Arnhem Land, is fluent and skilfully paced – but doesn’t risk complicating the critical narrative of our colonial history.Timothy Michael Rowse, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1731542021-12-06T04:19:30Z2021-12-06T04:19:30ZAustralia’s agriculture sector sorely needs more insights from First Nations people. Here’s how we get there<p>Much of the debate on Indigenous agriculture in Australia has focused on a contested pre-colonial <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-dark-emu-debate-limits-representation-of-aboriginal-people-in-australia-163006">definition</a> as to whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people deserve the English title of “farmer”. </p>
<p>However this view stifles the real story of Indigenous engagement in Western agriculture. It also fails to recognise the inherent need for Indigenous peoples’ involvement in the sector.</p>
<p>In 2020, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment conducted a series of roundtables to develop the <a href="https://www.awe.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-agricultural-workforce-strategy.pdf">National Agriculture Workforce Strategy</a>. </p>
<p>The strategy noted the urgency of transforming the agricultural workforce into a “complex, modern, sophisticated sector”. </p>
<p>There is no doubt the agricultural workforce is changing.</p>
<p>However, there’s a worryingly unsophisticated understanding of workforce diversity within the sector – especially in terms of Indigenous involvement in agriculture.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-peoples-are-crucial-for-conservation-a-quarter-of-all-land-is-in-their-hands-99742">Indigenous peoples are crucial for conservation – a quarter of all land is in their hands</a>
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<h2>Agriculture must connect with Indigenous people</h2>
<p>There is a critical and overdue need for agriculture to connect with Indigenous people.</p>
<p>This is best demonstrated through the Indigenous land holdings across the nation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/17/who-owns-australia">The Guardian Australia</a> recently noted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people own up to 54.17% of Australia’s landmass. </p>
<p>This is comparable to the <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/land-and-housing">National Indigenous Australians Agency</a> estimate of Indigenous land ownership, which puts the figure at around 40%.</p>
<p>This extensive landholding by First Nations people is an essential component of the continued practice of agriculture in Australia. But despite Indigenous people owning these vast areas of land, only <a href="https://www.awe.gov.au/abares/products/insights/snapshot-of-australias-agricultural-workforce">1%</a> of the agricultural workforce identify as Indigenous.</p>
<p>This rate is unacceptably low, given <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-and-projections-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/latest-release">3.3% of Australia’s population more broadly identify as Indigenous</a>.</p>
<p>The National Agriculture Workforce Strategy identifies solutions to this lack of Indigenous workforce. Solutions such as promoting Indigenous people in agriculture through marketing, and fostering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership in this sector.</p>
<p>However, these proposed strategies fail to acknowledge broader concerns about inadequate Indigenous representation in the sector.</p>
<h2>Better data and a pipeline of Indigenous graduates</h2>
<p>To date, there has been no concerted effort across the agriculture sector to understand the size and scale of current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander involvement, nor their agricultural production.</p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/2020-21-agricultural-census">Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Agriculture Census</a> does not provide the opportunity for farmers to identify as Indigenous. Agriculture research and development corporations usually don’t collect these data, either.</p>
<p>There are also pipeline issues regarding Indigenous involvement in the sector. A recent study of 15 years of data by one of us (<a href="https://acda.edu.au/resources/IndigenousStudentsDoNotChooseAgricultureAtUniversity.pdf">James Pratley</a>) demonstrated universities had a low attraction and retention rate for Indigenous students. Fewer than five Indigenous students graduate in agriculture across Australia each year.</p>
<p>Despite the lack of university graduates, Australia has a <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/statistical-overview-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples-australia">growing Indigenous youth demographic</a>, which could contribute to a much-needed workforce in future.</p>
<p>To encourage Indigenous people to enter agriculture, we need to show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people belong in the sector. They need to feel welcome in our universities and TAFEs and we must better support those entering the industry.</p>
<p>Charles Sturt University has developed an <a href="https://www.csu.edu.au/office/advancement/giving-to-csu/active-funds/indigenous-agriculture-initiative">Indigenous agriculture initiative</a> drawing attention to the lack of Indigenous agriculture graduates. It also provides Indigenous students scholarships to study agriculture and/or do postgraduate research on aspects of Indigenous agriculture.</p>
<p>This provides Indigenous people with a pathway into agricultural industries and shows Indigenous people what opportunities exist.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1412194525385162752"}"></div></p>
<h2>Attracting and retaining Indigenous talent</h2>
<p>It’s also imperative larger agricultural companies develop <a href="https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation-action-plans/">Reconciliation Action Plans</a> (detailed, long-term strategies to meaningfully advance reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people within an organisation). Big firms must also start or renew their efforts towards building more diverse workforces and supply chains.</p>
<p>Over <a href="https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation-action-plans/">1,100 Australian organisations have followed this path</a>.</p>
<p>Agricultural companies such as <a href="https://www.incitecpivot.com.au/%7E/media/Files/IPL/Sustainability/2021-2023-IPL-Innovate-RAP_R6-FIN-web.pdf">Incitec Pivot</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-22/obe-organic-leading-the-way-in-reconciliation-/100307874">OBE Organics</a> and <a href="https://www.bayer.com.au/sites/bayer_com_au/files/Bayer%2520RAP-Final.pdf">Bayer</a> have recently developed Reconciliation Action Plans. Other agricultural businesses and industries need to ensure their houses are in order too. </p>
<p>Reconciliation Action Plans provide a pathway for organisations to advance reconciliation across their business. This can be done through identified actions such as increasing Indigenous staff and initiatives for staff. Organisations are accountable for these actions through the Reconciliation Action Plan they develop. </p>
<p>As these Reconciliation Action Plans mature, employers in the agricultural sector will seek out Indigenous talent to meet targets and to crucially provide new perspectives.</p>
<p>Indigenous people’s input and talent is vital to modernising the agricultural sector. There is a huge opportunity to build employment pipelines from schools through universities into the broader agrifood industry. </p>
<p>A clear understanding of the size and scale of current Indigenous agricultural contributions is sorely needed. </p>
<p>Industry leaders who work to establish and grow the talent pipelines and develop Reconciliation Action Plans will reap the rewards.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-law-on-workplace-gender-equality-is-under-review-heres-what-needs-to-change-172406">A law on workplace gender equality is under review. Here's what needs to change</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josh Gilbert receives funding from the Food Agility CRC. He is affiliated with KU Children's Services, the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office, Reconciliation NSW, and Bridging the Gap Foundation. Josh formally worked at PwC's Indigenous Consulting.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Pratley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The agricultural workforce is changing but a worryingly unsophisticated understanding of workforce diversity lingers in the sector – especially in terms of Indigenous involvement in agriculture.Joshua Gilbert, Researcher (Indigenous Policy) Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research and Higher Degree Research Student at Charles Sturt University, University of Technology SydneyJames Pratley, Research Professor of Agriculture, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1641542021-08-19T19:49:23Z2021-08-19T19:49:23ZFriday essay: how ancient beliefs in underwater worlds can shed light in a time of rising sea levels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416437/original/file-20210817-52421-eei0gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A submerged coconut palm on Kadavu Island, Fiji.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ethan Daniels/shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The small boat sliced its way through the waveless ocean. The Fiji air was warm and still, the silhouettes of distant islands like sentinels watching our progress. It seemed a perfect day to visit the Solo Lighthouse and the “drowned land” reputed to surround it. </p>
<p>As we entered the gap through the coral reef bordering the Solo Lagoon, we all removed our headgear and bowed, clapping gently with cupped hands to show our respect to the people locals say live on the land beneath the sea.</p>
<p>The Solo Lagoon lies at the northern extremity of the Kadavu island group in the south of Fiji. In the local dialect, solo means rock, which is all that is left of a more extensive land that once existed here. Ancient tales recall this land was abruptly submerged during an earthquake and tsunami, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years ago.</p>
<p>Our boat raced on, towards the lighthouse built on remnant rock in 1888. The people with me, from Dravuni and Buliya islands, told how on a still night when they come here to fish, they sometimes hear from beneath the lagoon the sounds of mosquitoes buzzing, roosters crowing and people talking. </p>
<p>Every local resident learns strict protocols upon entering the realm above this underwater world … and the perils of ignoring them. It is believed if you fail to slow and bow as you enter the Solo Lagoon, your boat will never leave it. If you take more fish from the lagoon than you need, you will never take your catch home. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415763/original/file-20210812-25-ddjjnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Solo Lighthouse stands on a rock in southern Fiji.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vasemaca Setariki</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is deceptively easy to ridicule such beliefs in underwater worlds but <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/worlds-in-shadow-9781472983497/">they likely represent memories of places that really were once submerged</a>. Several groups of people living throughout Fiji today trace their lineage back to Lomanikoro, the name of the drowned land in the Solo Lagoon. Though there is no written record of the event, it is believed submergence reconfigured the power structures of Fijian society in ways that people still remember. Similar traditions are found elsewhere. </p>
<p>In northern Australia, many Aboriginal groups trace their lineage to lands now underwater. A <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Speaking_Land.html?id=_Ty1lfLFoTkC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">story</a> told decades ago by Mangurug, a Gunwinggu elder from Djamalingi or Cape Don in the Northern Territory, explained how his people came from an island named Aragaládi in the middle of the sea that was later submerged. “Trees and ground, creatures, kangaroos, they all drowned when the sea covered them,” he stated.</p>
<p>Other groups living around the Gulf of Carpentaria <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Archaeology_of_the_Dreamtime.html?id=Hx9CPgAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">claim</a> their ancestors fled the drowning land of Baralku, possibly an ancient memory of the submergence of the land bridge connecting Australia and New Guinea during the last ice age.</p>
<p>In northwest Europe, meanwhile, there are countless stories of underwater lands off the coast where bells are said to toll eerily in drowned church steeples. Such stories abound in Cardigan Bay, Wales, where several “sunken cities” are said to lie. In medieval Brittany, in France, fisher-folk in the Baie de Douarnenez used to see the “streets and monuments” of the sunken city named Ys beneath the water surface, stories of which abound in local traditions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416438/original/file-20210817-18-101e5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coast line near Tresaith, Cardigan Bay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed in many cultures across the world there are stories about underwater worlds inhabited by people strikingly similar to ourselves, cities where benevolent bearded monarchs and multi-tentacled sea witches organise the lives of younger merfolk, many of whom aspire to become part of human society. Fantasy? <a href="https://theconversation.com/mermaids-arent-real-but-theyve-fascinated-people-around-the-world-for-ages-150518">Undoubtedly</a>. Arbitrary inventions? Perhaps not. </p>
<p>Such ideas may derive from ancient memories about submerged lands and the peoples who once inhabited them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mermaids-arent-real-but-theyve-fascinated-people-around-the-world-for-ages-150518">Mermaids aren't real – but they've fascinated people around the world for ages</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And if we allow that some of these stories may actually be founded on millennia-old memories of coastal submergence, then they may also have some practical application to human futures. For coastal lands are being submerged today; birthplaces in living memory now underwater.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416432/original/file-20210817-21-1pxxyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Foley/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Context</h2>
<p>In the 200,000 years or so that we — modern humans — have roamed the earth, the level of the ocean, which currently occupies over 70% of the earth’s surface, has gone up and down by tens of metres. At the end of the last great ice age, around 18,000 years ago, the average ocean level was <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-coastal-living-is-at-risk-from-sea-level-rise-but-its-happened-before-87686">120 metres or more lower than it is today</a>.</p>
<p>As land ice melted in the aftermath of the ice age, sea level rose. Coastal peoples in every part of the world had no choice except to adapt. Most moved inland, some offshore. Being unable to read or write, they encoded their experiences into their oral traditions.</p>
<p>We know that observations of memorable events can endure in oral cultures for thousands of years, plausibly more than seven millennia in the case of Indigenous Australian stories of <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-bullin-shrieked-aboriginal-memories-of-volcanic-eruptions-thousands-of-years-ago-81986">volcanic eruptions</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preserve-history-of-a-rise-in-sea-level-36010">coastal submergence</a>. So how might people’s memories of once populated lands have evolved in oral traditions to reach us today? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preserve-history-of-a-rise-in-sea-level-36010">Ancient Aboriginal stories preserve history of a rise in sea level</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Initially they would have recalled the precise places where drowned lands existed and histories of the people who had occupied them. Perhaps, as time went on, as these oral tales became less convincing, so links were made with the present. Listen carefully. You can hear the dogs barking below the water, the bells tolling, the people talking. You might even, as with Solo, embed these stories within cultural protocols to ensure history did not disappear.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416440/original/file-20210817-6629-qc70vx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mosaic depicting Triton.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traditions involving people of the land interacting with their submarine counterparts are quite old; the Greek story of a merman named Triton is mentioned in Hesiod’s Theogony, written almost 3,000 years ago. In Ireland, there are stories hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years old that tell of high ranking men wedding mermaids, begetting notable families, and even giving rise to taboos about killing seals, whom these mermaids regarded as kin.</p>
<p>Stories of people occupying undersea lands also abound in Indigenous Australia. They include those about the yawkyawk (or “young spirit woman” in the Kundjeyhmi language of western Arnhem Land), who has come to be represented in similar ways to a mermaid. </p>
<p>Like mermaids in Europe, Australian yawkyawk have long hair, which sometimes floats on the ocean surface as seaweed, and fish tails.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415766/original/file-20210812-14-1j91g44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Contemporary representations of Australian mermaids (yawkyawk) by Kunwinjku artists Marina Murdilnga, left, and Lulu Laradjbi. These mythical beings have the tails of fish and hair resembling algal blooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dragi Markovic, NGA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the central Pacific islands of Kiribati, meanwhile, it was once widely believed worlds existed parallel to the tangible one we inhabit. Entire islands moved between these, wandering through time and space, disappearing one day only to reappear some time later in a different place. Humans also moved between these worlds — and I suspect this was once a widespread belief of people occupying islands and archipelagos. </p>
<p>Sometimes the inhabitants of these worlds were believed to be equipped with fish tails, replaced with legs when they moved onshore. An ancient ballad from the Orkney Islands (Scotland), where such merfolk are often called silkies, goes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am a man upon the land<br>
I am a silkie in the sea.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At one time, the people of the Aran Islands (Galway, Ireland) would believe they had spotted the island of Hy-Brasail far to the west; scrambling to reach it in their boats. No-one ever did. On the other side of the world, the fabulous island named Burotukula that “wanders” through Fiji waters is periodically claimed to be sighted off the coast of Matuku Island.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416443/original/file-20210817-21-1g4earj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Matuku Island, Fiji.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Anxiety and solutions</h2>
<p>In oral societies, such as those that existed almost everywhere a thousand years ago, knowledge was amassed and communicated systematically by older people to younger ones because it was considered essential to their survival. Much of this knowledge was communicated as narrative, some through poetry and song, dance, performance and art.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1211&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1211&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416446/original/file-20210817-17-12mp605.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1211&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In harsh environments, where water and food were often scarce, it was vital to communicate knowledge fully and accurately. Australia provides excellent examples, where Indigenous law was cross-checked for completeness and accuracy when transmitted from father to son. </p>
<p>Part of the law considered essential to survival was people’s experiences of life-altering events. This included bursts of volcanic activity and the multi-generational land loss that affected the entire Australian fringe in the wake of the last ice age, reducing land mass by around 23%. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/12/1/113/165255/In-Anticipation-of-ExtirpationHow-Ancient-Peoples">research</a> has shown some ancient Indigenous Australian “submergence stories” contain more than simply descriptions of rising sea level and associated land loss. They also include expressions of people’s anxiety.</p>
<p>For instance, a <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Speaking_Land.html?id=_Ty1lfLFoTkC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">story</a> told in 1941 by Sugar Billy Rindjana, Jimmy Moore and Win-gari (Andingari people) and by Tommy Nedabi (Wiranggu-Kokatato) recalled how, millennia earlier, their forebears living along the Fowlers Bay coast in South Australia “feared the sea flood would spread over the whole country”. </p>
<p>These stories also talk about people’s practical responses to try to stop the rising waters. The Wati Nyiinyii peoples from the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Pila_Nguru.html?id=a3WDAAAAMAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">once</a> “bundled thousands of [wooden] spears to stop the ocean’s encroachment” on the lands that once existed below the Bunda Cliffs. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Languages_of_Australia.html?id=0b5XGja0HKIC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">story</a> told by the Gungganyji people of the Cairns district in northeast Australia, they heated boulders in a mountain-top fire, then rolled these into the face of the encroaching ocean to stop its rise.</p>
<p>Today the ocean surface along most of the world’s coasts is rising faster than it has for several thousand years. It is placing growing stress on coastal societies and the landscapes and infrastructures on which they have come to depend. Anxiety is building, especially in the face of scientific projections involving sea-level rise of at least 70 cm by the end of this <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-high-above-sea-level-am-i-if-youve-googled-this-youre-likely-asking-the-wrong-question-an-expert-explains-165882">century</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416445/original/file-20210817-21-1goh76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family stand outside their submerged huts near Beira, Mozambique, in 2019. Much of the city is below sea level on a coastline that experts call one of the world’s most vulnerable to global warming’s rising waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are responding with practical solutions, building hard structures such as walls and wooden palisades along coastlines. We look to science to curb climate change but many people still feel <a href="https://theconversation.com/ignoring-young-peoples-climate-change-fears-is-a-recipe-for-anxiety-123357">anxious and powerless</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ignoring-young-peoples-climate-change-fears-is-a-recipe-for-anxiety-123357">Ignoring young people's climate change fears is a recipe for anxiety</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our ancient ancestors, confronted with a seemingly unceasing rise in the ocean surface — and associated loss of coastal lands — also felt anxiety and built structures. And, as some people do today, many almost certainly sought spiritual remedies too. Of course we know little about the latter, but there are clues. </p>
<p>In many places along the coasts of Australia and northwest Europe, there are stone arrangements, ranging from simple stone circles to the extraordinary parallel “stone lines” at Carnac in France, kilometres long. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415768/original/file-20210812-21-f4ubm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Part of the stone lines of Carnac, considered to represent a spiritual response by people in this part of coastal Brittany more than six millennia ago to the rising sea level.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Nunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These stone lines, built more than 6,000 years ago have been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234118901_Submarine_Neolithic_Stone_Rows_near_Carnac_Morbihan_France_preliminary_results_from_acoustic_and_underwater_survey">interpreted</a> by French archaeologists as a “cognitive barrier” intended to stop the gods interfering with human affairs, specifically to stop the rapid and enduring rise of the sea level along this part of the Brittany coast. Ritual burials of people and valuables along the shore in northwest Europe may once have served a similar purpose.</p>
<p>We can take hope from our ancestors’ experiences with rising sea level. Most people survived it, so shall we. But the experience was so profound, so physically and psychologically challenging, that the survivors kept their memories of it alive as stories passed on from one generation to the next. Their stories became enduring oral traditions — intended to inform and empower future generations. And to show us that the past is not without meaning; it is not irrelevant to our future.</p>
<p><em>Patrick Nunn’s new book Worlds in Shadow: Submerged Lands in Science, Memory and Myth is published by Bloomsbury Sigma.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick D. Nunn receives funding from the Government of Australia (Department of the Environment and Energy), the British Academy (UK), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Environment Research Council (UK), and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France).</span></em></p>From Fiji to France to Central Australia, stories abound of lands lost beneath the sea. Some are likely founded on millennia-old memories of coastal submergence, offering us clues today.Patrick D. Nunn, Professor of Geography, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643052021-07-11T09:42:11Z2021-07-11T09:42:11Z‘The stars aligned’: Ash Barty’s Wimbledon win is an historic moment for Indigenous people and women in sport<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410687/original/file-20210711-19-16qjzk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=179%2C15%2C3189%2C2119&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neil Hall/EPA/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the weekend in London, the stars aligned in the most remarkable way. On the 50th anniversary of Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s first Wimbledon win, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/ash-barty-karolina-pliskova-wimbledon-womens-final-wrap/100283404">Ashleigh Barty claimed</a> her first Wimbledon title. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I just hope I made Evonne proud. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The 25-year old becomes just the second Indigenous women to win Wimbledon and breaks a long drought for Australia at what is widely regarded as the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. </p>
<p>To put it in context, Australia hasn’t won a singles title at the All England Club since 2002, when Lleyton Hewitt became the men’s champion. The last time an Australian woman took out the title was over 40 years ago, when Goolagong Cawley won her second title in 1980 (this time also becoming the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/from-the-archives-1980-goolagong-cawley-s-second-wimbledon-crown-this-time-as-a-mum-20210708-p5884j.html">first mother</a> to win Wimbledon in 66 years). </p>
<p>But the win is also an historic moment for First Nations people and for Australian women in sport. It presents an opportunity to both celebrate and learn from this achievement. </p>
<h2>Barty breaks the mould</h2>
<p>Barty’s success is a particularly significant one for First Nations Australians. She is one of only a handful of Indigenous women who are both sporting champions and household names — such as Goolagong Cawley, Cathy Freeman and fellow Olympic medallists Nova Peris and Sam Riley. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1413887119932657665"}"></div></p>
<p>Australia has always seemed to struggle with celebrating Indigenous sporting success, particularly when it happens overseas. Achievements like Patty Mills’ <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-16/mills-scores-17-as-spurs-win-nba-championship/5526698">magic 17 points</a> to help secure the 2014 NBA championship for the San Antonio Spurs, Chad Reed’s <a href="https://www.ma.org.au/the-one-and-only-chad-reed/">legendary status in motocross</a> and Jesse Williams’ 2014 <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-03/williams-wins-super-bowl-ring/5235644">Super Bowl ring</a> have largely flown under the radar. </p>
<p>But Barty breaks this mould. She has long cited her Indigenous heritage and <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/ash-barty-indigenous/">relationship</a> with Goolagong Cawley as an inspiration. Yes, it is Barty’s tennis success that has made her famous. But it is her grace negotiating Australia’s uneasiness with its past and present relationship with our Indigenous peoples that makes her a true champion. </p>
<p>Her victory also followed by a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jun/03/french-open-world-no-1-ash-barty-retires-tennis-tournament-with-hip-injury-magda-linette">significant hip injury</a> in June. Although seeded number one for the tournament, even those in Barty’s camp were nervous about her chances. </p>
<p>Barty said, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The stars aligned for me over the past fortnight. It’s incredible that it happened to fall on the 50th anniversary of Evonne’s [Goolagong Cawley] first title here too.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As First Nations people would say “the Old People” — her Ancestors — had intervened.</p>
<h2>A NAIDOC week victory</h2>
<p>Apart from the parallels with Goolagong Cawley’s win, the timing is also special as it comes at the end of <a href="https://theconversation.com/although-we-didnt-produce-these-problems-we-suffer-them-3-ways-you-can-help-in-naidocs-call-to-heal-country-163362">NAIDOC week</a>. This year’s theme has been “Heal Country”. As Indigenous people continue to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/included-but-still-marginalised-indigenous-voices-still-missing-in-media-stories-on-indigenous-affairs-163426">marginalised</a> in so many areas of Australian life, Barty’s success is all the more a powerful testament to her strength and talent.</p>
<p>We know there are high barriers to Indigenous women participating in sport and exercise, at both grassroots and elite levels. These include racism and the high costs of participating. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/sport-can-be-an-important-part-of-aboriginal-culture-for-women-but-many-barriers-remain-120418">frequently cited statistic </a>(based on 2012 data) is about 23% of Indigenous women were physically active or played sport in the past 12 months, compared to 67% of non-Indigenous women. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Queensland Firebirds netball player, Jemma Mi Mi" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410688/original/file-20210711-70541-1spgydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jemma Mi Mi is the Super Netball league’s only Indigenous player.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Albert Perez/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even in sports with high Indigenous participation, such as netball (where about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/sep/29/netball-australia-commits-to-improvements-in-indigenous-space">4% of participants</a> are Indigenous), this still hasn’t flowed through to the professional level. There have only ever been two Indigenous players to represent the national team — and <a href="https://diamonds.netball.com.au/player/sharon-finnan-white-oam">none since 2000</a>.</p>
<p>Last year, Queensland Firebirds midcourter Jemma Mi Mi, a proud Wakka Wakka woman, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/sep/22/super-netball-queensland-firebirds-jemma-mi-mi-indigenous-round">sat on the bench</a> during Super Netball’s Indigenous round. Netball Australia says it is working to improve the culture but <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/09/29/criticism-prompts-netball-australia-commit-improvements-indigenous-players">change is slow</a>. </p>
<h2>Sexism and Australian sport</h2>
<p>Sport is a significant part of our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2011.603553?casa_token=rCT6-enkoLoAAAAA%3AaA7fDYy2k9_suaSz3BKPSRNDRet46B-zSEDXdv78QHFWmUuglIo-hlt_ZbAyohex0a4RHh-w77s">national identity</a>, and we have a deep love for our sporting heroes. Yet for women in sport, we know the road is harder than for men. It wasn’t that long ago that champion race horse Black Caviar was named Australian <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/racing/pearson-snubbed-as-newspaper-names-horse-as-sportswoman-of-the-year-20121223-2btac.html">sportswoman of the year</a> by the Daily Telegraph.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755458620300207">recent research</a> with female AFL players, women talked of their gratitude for being included in the sport at a professional level. This is despite low pay and the high pressures and workloads. As I argued, this attitude is a double-edged sword for professional sportswomen, as it can make them vulnerable to exploitation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sport-can-be-an-important-part-of-aboriginal-culture-for-women-but-many-barriers-remain-120418">Sport can be an important part of Aboriginal culture for women – but many barriers remain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Looking at professional elite athletes in Australia, the top earners are predominantly men. For example, in the 2019 AFR <a href="https://www.afr.com/wealth/people/australia-s-top-sports-earners-revealed-20190725-p52as9">sports rich list</a>, Barty ranked eight and was the only woman in the top 20. A top seven rich list <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/what-the-fox/australian-sporting-rich-list-tim-cahill-rises-through-the-ranks-with-lucrative-shanghai-deal/news-story/94f28616f48968b2f0a81b6ebdd767f5?device=DESKTOP&editiondata=none&fromakamai=true&pt=none&wpa=BB44D82C3D7223D393F2AE47579FB5EA6791ABE4">compiled by Fox Sports</a> in June 2021 only featured men. </p>
<p>We also know that women in sport also cop <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-toxic-and-dehumanising-culture-how-australian-gymnastics-needs-to-reform-in-wake-of-damning-report-160197">abuse</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2020.1777101?journalCode=fcss20">sexism</a> and <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jcsp/13/2/article-p177.xml">harassment</a> — as well as discrimination in terms of how <a href="https://theconversation.com/sing-when-youre-women-why-its-time-to-take-female-sports-fans-seriously-80915">seriously</a> their involvement is taken. </p>
<h2>Uneven playing field</h2>
<p>So while we celebrate #YesAsh and enjoy the #BartyParty, we must also be honest about the realities for women in sport, and in particular for Indigenous women in sport. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/although-we-didnt-produce-these-problems-we-suffer-them-3-ways-you-can-help-in-naidocs-call-to-heal-country-163362">'Although we didn’t produce these problems, we suffer them': 3 ways you can help in NAIDOC's call to Heal Country</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For those of us who have enjoyed the pride and excitement of Barty’s win, let’s pledge to work harder on removing structural barriers to participation at grassroots and elite levels. It is time to acknowledge how uneven Australian sporting fields can be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adele Pavlidis receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Woolombi Waters does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Barty emulates Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s achievement in 1971, it’s an opportunity to celebrate and to learn.Adele Pavlidis, Researcher in Sociology, Griffith UniversityMarcus Woolombi Waters, Lecturer, School of Humanities, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1618772021-06-13T20:06:03Z2021-06-13T20:06:03ZBook review: Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate rigorously critiques Bruce Pascoe’s argument<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403712/original/file-20210601-15-1twxu96.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C1680%2C1202&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reconstruction of traditional dwelling, Lake Condah, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Peter Sutton</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eminent Australian anthropologist Peter Sutton and respected field archaeologist Keryn Walshe have co-authored a meticulously researched new book, <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/farmers-or-hunter-gatherers-paperback-softback">Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate</a>. It’s set to become the definitive critique of Bruce Pascoe’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401526-dark-emu">Dark Emu: Black Seeds — Agriculture or Accident?</a></p>
<p>First published in 2014, Pascoe’s Dark Emu has spawned numerous derivatives. Pascoe contends that in pre-contact times, Australian Aboriginal people weren’t “mere” hunter-gatherers, but agriculturalists. Descriptors like “simple” or “mere” are anathema to people like me who’ve lived long-term with hunter-gatherers.</p>
<p>For many Australians, Pascoe’s book is a “must-read”, speaking truth to power. For such readers, Dark Emu seems a breakthrough text. Not so, in Sutton and Walshe’s estimation. Nor mine.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Underpinning Dark Emu is the author’s rhetorical purpose. This proselytising is partly achieved by painstaking “massaging” of his sources, a practice forensically examined by Walshe and Sutton. It has led to converts to Pascoe’s dubious proposition. But this willingness to accept Pascoe’s argument reveals a systemic area of failure in the Australian education system.</p>
<p>On the basis of long-term research and observation, Sutton and Walshe portray classical Australian Aboriginal people as highly successful hunter-gatherers and fishers. They strongly repudiate racist notions of Aboriginal hunter-gatherers as living in a primitive state. </p>
<p>In their book, they assert there was and is nothing “simple” or “primitive” about hunter-gatherer-fishers’ labour practices. This complexity was, and in many cases, still is, underpinned by high levels of spiritual/cultural belief. </p>
<h2>Not agriculturalists</h2>
<p>As Sutton attests, seeds were and are occasionally deliberately scattered. But in classical Aboriginal societies they were <em>never</em> planted nor watered for agricultural purposes. Such aforementioned rituals are collectively called “increase ceremonies”. Sutton’s alternative term, “maintenance ceremonies”, invokes <em>spiritual propagation</em> as opposed to oversupply.</p>
<p>Their objective was continuing subsistence. Australia’s hunter-gatherer-fishers left an extremely light carbon footprint — the diametric opposite of many contemporary agricultural/industrial practices. The photo below, taken in 1932 or earlier, shows Pilbara people throwing yelka (nutgrass) — not threshing or scattering seeds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The people in this photo are throwing pebbles and dust - not scattering or threshing seeds. It’s a maintenance ceremony for nutgrass (‘yelka’), to ensure spiritual reproduction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ralph Piddington, ‘Totemic system of the Karadjeri tribe’, Oceania 4, 1932, pp. 376–93, Plate II.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pascoe’s sources and approach</h2>
<p>Pascoe draws on records of explorers and early colonists, also citing recent works, including Bill Gammage’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13041243-the-biggest-estate-on-earth?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=09BOiswTLF&rank=1">The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia</a>. Dark Emu leans most heavily on the work of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Gerritsen">late historian/ethnographer Rupert Gerritsen</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-dark-emu-and-the-blindness-of-australian-agriculture-97444">Friday essay: Dark Emu and the blindness of Australian agriculture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Counter-intuitively, Pascoe mainly cites non-Aboriginal sources. There is no real “voice” given to the few remaining people who lived traditional lives as youngsters, or are cited in books or articles.</p>
<p>While some have described Dark Emu as fabrication, Sutton and Walshe are more measured. They methodically show that in Dark Emu, Pascoe has removed significant passages from publications that contradict his major objectives. This boosts his contention that all along Aboriginal people were farmers and/or aquaculturalists. </p>
<p>One example concerns Pascoe’s quoting of the journal entries of the explorer Charles Sturt. Sutton writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sturt is quoted [by Pascoe] on his party’s discovery of a large well and ‘village’ of 19 huts somewhere north of Lake Torrens in South Australia.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This “village” concept arose from colonial records, and is still sometimes used in recent articles. </p>
<p>Pascoe’s edit of Sturt’s original 1849 text breathes oxygen into Dark Emu’s polemical edge. It’s misleading at best. For Sturt’s diary reveals Aboriginal people didn’t live in “houses” in any single site all year round. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Page 153, Dark Emu Debate.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such accounts destabilise Pascoe’s argument, reinforced by ethnographic, colonial, and archaeological records. </p>
<p>Hunter-gatherers <em>did</em> alter the country in significant ways — most Australians know about the ancient practice of firing the country, recently discussed in depth owing to our increasingly devastating bush-fires. This involved ecological agency and prowess. But expert fire-burning isn’t an agricultural practice, as Pascoe avers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wik people firing the country, middle Kirke River, Cape York Peninsula, 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Peter Sutton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-expertise-is-reducing-bushfires-in-northern-australia-its-time-to-consider-similar-approaches-for-other-disasters-155361">Indigenous expertise is reducing bushfires in northern Australia. It's time to consider similar approaches for other disasters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Misidentification of implements</h2>
<p>In a key chapter, Walshe homes in on Pascoe’s mis-interpretations of hunter-gatherer implements, which he labels “agricultural” tools. For instance, Pascoe misconstrues grooved “Bogan Picks” as heavy stones used for agricultural activity. </p>
<p>Walshe disputes Pascoe’s claim, stating that, “with their adze-shaped end and grooved midline for <a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/haft">hafting</a>, they were likely used in a similar way to stone axes.” </p>
<p>Wooden digging sticks were also used for breaking up the earth to extract yams when in season, among various other purposes — not for “tilling” or “ploughing” the soil in preparation for planting seeds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grooved (Bogan style) picks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Malcolm Davidson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Language used by early colonists and explorers — words like “village” and “picks” — befuddles readers. British colonists’ monolingualism meant they used English words, often imposed arbitrarily, to name never-before-seen hunter-gatherer implements. For example, “Bogan Pick” references the nearby Bogan River. </p>
<h2>Hunter-gatherer mobility and stasis</h2>
<p>Sutton expertly summarises the experience of escaped convict, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/buckley-william-1844/text2133">William Buckley</a>, who spent 32 years travelling around country with the Wathawurrung people in Central Victoria.</p>
<p>Over time, Buckley became fluent in the language of his Wathawurrung hosts. Later, his oral account of the hunter-gatherer group’s approximate lengths of mobility and stasis at numerous sites was transcribed. It’s a unique document covering a significant timespan. </p>
<p>This account reinforces earlier chapters in Dark Emu Debate. Sutton and Walshe make it crystal clear that Aboriginal people weren’t “simple nomads” wandering around randomly, opportunistically searching for food and water. They knew their country intimately. </p>
<p>Rather, hunter-gatherers engaged in purposeful travel to sites with which they familiar and able to source seasonally available food, water and shelter at variable times of year. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shelter Tree, Eden Valley 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keryn Walshe</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another conspicuous weakness in Dark Emu’s approach, pinpointed by Sutton and Walshe, is Pascoe’s penchant for choosing exceptions to the general rule, implying that these atypical practices were widespread or universal. It’s another strategy to consolidate his argument but involves eliding vital information.</p>
<h2>Pre-contact aquaculture</h2>
<p>Pascoe offers two examples of <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/fisheries/aquaculture">“aquacultural”</a> practice, one in Brewarrina (NSW) in the bed streams of the Barwon River, and the other in Lake Condah, in south-western Victoria. </p>
<p>He seizes on rock use in the Brewarrina fishery and Lake Condah’s fish and seasonal eel trapping as “proof” of Aboriginal people’s aqua/agricultural prowess — giving the impression they created these complex hydrological systems from scratch. </p>
<p>But Sutton writes, “The fish traps of Brewarrina … were not claimed as the ingenious works of human beings, but … regarded as having been put there in the Dreaming, by Dreamings.” Both he and Walshe readily acknowledge the fact that Aboriginal people use/d their human agency to create modifications. It’s not an either/or matter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="File:FMIB 36637 Brewarrina Fishery.jpeg - Wikimedia Commons" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brewarrina Fishery (‘Baiames Ngunnhu’), photograph Lindsay G. Thompson, 1893.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Washington, Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, a chapter written by Walshe throws light on the seismic activity that forged Lake Condah’s unique terrain and waterways. This area, she writes, is part of </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a volcanic system … last active … 9,000 years ago, with a major eruption much earlier, about 37,000 thousand years ago, causing a massive lava flow across the pre-existing drainage system.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The natural tilt southwards, she explains, facilitated “naturally formed ancient river channels … to reach the Southern Ocean”. </p>
<p>This enabled migratory fish to spawn. Fish, and at certain times of year, eels, swam through both fresh and salty water — making for ease of catching. Local Aboriginal people moved the heavy stones into semi-circular formations to enable netting, spearing or grabbing by hand, possibly creating further semi-captivity of these food staples. </p>
<p>In this way, hunter-gatherers consistently and constantly “value-added” to, or enhanced, nature’s creation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lake Condah in the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Budj Bim/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-detective-work-behind-the-budj-bim-eel-traps-world-heritage-bid-71800">The detective work behind the Budj Bim eel traps World Heritage bid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Not a bunfight</h2>
<p>Pascoe’s skilful editing of his sources involves conscious, deliberate intervention. Does he hope Dark Emu will convince people to change their belief in the noxious evolutionary ladder, once uniformly, but still sometimes, applied to different groups of homo sapiens? </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Or was his book written to prove Aboriginal people were/are more like Europeans, which could perhaps lead to much needed progress on reconciliation? Perhaps that accounts for its rapturous reception by many Australians, especially the young.</p>
<p>Why not simply celebrate the long-term achievements of hunter-gatherers? </p>
<p>Hunter-gatherers worked in concert with the natural world, not against it as most humans do today, resulting in insoluble difficulties such as overcrowding, pandemics and toxic agricultural and aquacultural practices. Survival depends on this. For eons, it ensured the continuity and the continuing existence of Australia’s hunter-gatherer people and their culture.</p>
<p>Farmers or Hunter Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate needs to be read carefully, keeping an open mind. The book’s focus is on both material and spiritual economies and their misrepresentation. Despite racist commentary from some, this isn’t an exclusively right or left-wing issue or a bunfight. </p>
<p>Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu will continue to be granted recognition, if not immortality. But Sutton and Walshe’s Dark Emu Debate will undoubtedly be acclaimed. As a critique of Pascoe’s book, it’s just about perfect — a volume with the twin virtues of rigour and readability. </p>
<p><em>Farmers or Hunter Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate is <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/farmers-or-hunter-gatherers-paperback-softback">published by Melbourne University Press</a> and will be released 16 June 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Judith Nicholls does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new book by an eminent anthropologist and archaeologist mounts a rigorous critique of Dark Emu, repudiating notions of ‘primitive’ hunter-gatherers.Christine Judith Nicholls, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1576772021-03-24T03:29:40Z2021-03-24T03:29:40ZDark Mofo doesn’t deserve our blood. Australia must invest in First Nations curators and artists<p>“We want your blood,” declared Dark Mofo on Saturday. This was not a metaphorical call. This was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-20/british-flag-indigenous-blood-santiago-sierra-dark-mofo/100018494#:%7E:text=Tasmanian%20Aboriginal%20Centre's%20Nala%20Mansell,Union%20Jack%2C%22%20she%20said">a literal request of First Nations Peoples</a> by Spanish artist Santiago Sierra.</p>
<p>The call-out was confronting — and probably set out what it intended to do: shock — but the white curators may not have counted on the level of Indigenous disgust, refusal and critique it prompted.</p>
<p>On Monday, Dark Mofo <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dark-mofo-criticised-after-requesting-first-nations-blood-for-abusive-re-traumatising-art-project">released a statement</a> defending the project, called Union Flag. By Tuesday afternoon, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/mar/23/we-made-a-mistake-dark-mofo-pulls-the-plug-on-deeply-harmful-indigenous-blood-work">it had been cancelled</a>.</p>
<p>The critical question is how this was allowed to be programmed in the first place? And what structures support white curators to speak of Black traumas? </p>
<p>Trawlwoolway and Plengarmairenner Pakana visual artist and dancer, Jam Graham Blair <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dark-mofo-cancels-controversial-first-nations-blood-art-project-after-days-of-backlash">led the call</a> on social media to denounce the project, and is now among those calling for artists to <a href="https://www.change.org/p/museum-of-old-and-new-art-blak-list-mona">boycott</a> MONA.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black text on red background reads: 'black list mona'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391311/original/file-20210324-13-1k42r8v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Artists and curators such as Jam Graham Blair are now calling for a boycott of MONA until demands on organisational reforms are met.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.change.org/p/museum-of-old-and-new-art-blak-list-mona">James Tylor/change.org</a></span>
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<p>Yorta-Yorta curator Kimberley Moulton described “the neo-colonial curatorial practice that haunts us”. Wardandi (Nyoongar) curator Clothilde Bullen reminded the art world “this is why we need far more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts workers and curators in senior leadership and director positions.” </p>
<p>As Noongar writer and researcher Cass Lynch <a href="https://overland.org.au/2021/03/asking-for-our-blood/">wrote for Overland</a>: “the proposed artwork betrays itself as hinging on violence against Indigenous bodies.”</p>
<p>More than ever, we need Black curators who work from community standpoints.</p>
<h2>A track record</h2>
<p>Aboriginal blood is still being spilt in acts of generational colonial violence at the hands of the police. In the 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, over 450 First Nations people have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/14/when-will-we-have-peace-grief-and-outrage-at-three-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-in-a-week">died in custody</a>.</p>
<p>As Aboriginal People, we know racism and white supremacy are not hidden in corners.
Indeed, MONA has a track record of unsettling practices and cancellations. In 2014, they pulled an Aboriginal DNA identity testing installation by Swiss artist Christoph Buchel after a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/mona-removes-aboriginal-dna-test-exhibit/5548838">similar outcry</a>.</p>
<p>Union Flag aimed to literally extract Aboriginal blood as an anthropological and biological specimen. Extracted to be used as paint without the bodies or sovereign voices it belongs to and within. </p>
<p>This is a deep triggering of the wounds caused by the exploitation done to and on the bodies of our Ancestors and Old People in the name of anthropology and science. Our remains are <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">held in museums</a> in Australia and around the world. </p>
<p>This is unfinished business unaided by empty performances of decolonial consciousness.</p>
<p>We are taught by our Elders that our bodies and all they hold are sacred, from our hair to our sweat.</p>
<p>Capitalism and colonialism work hand in hand in the art world, dominated by privileged white Australians, directors, curators, wealthy board members and customers. Few white artists are able to contend with the violence of the ongoing colonial project without literally using or alluding to the blood of Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tjanpi-desert-weavers-show-us-that-traditional-craft-is-art-30243">The Tjanpi Desert Weavers show us that traditional craft is art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resisting and contesting</h2>
<p>Aboriginal artists create work that is nuanced, complex, multi-layered and engaged with lived realities, the traumas caused by colonial violence and how to survive and thrive in spite of it.</p>
<p>Part of this is because of our abilities and skills to resist and contest the never-ended colonial project and all the tentacles of its violence. This violence that disturbs and unsettles us once again with the daily labour of responding to white peoples’ poorly constructed ideas.</p>
<p>MONA’s David Walsh <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-24/david-walsh-apology-over-mofo-blood-flag-controversy/100023988">has now apologised, saying</a> he “didn’t see the deeper consequences of this proposition” and Dark Mofo creative director Leigh Carmichael said he had “made a mistake” in commissioning Union Flag.</p>
<p>But Dark Mofo know better. In partnership with the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the 2019 festival presented the work of Trawlwoolway artist Dr Julie Gough. Her 25-year career survey show, <a href="https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/whats_on/newsselect/2019articles/julie_gough_tense_past">Tense Past</a>, showed her long engagement with art-making on the ongoing impact of colonisation on Tasmania’s First People.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/julie-goughs-tense-past-reminds-us-how-the-brutalities-of-colonial-settlement-are-still-felt-today-118923">Julie Gough's 'Tense Past' reminds us how the brutalities of colonial settlement are still felt today</a>
</strong>
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<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S3se-Ale64c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Has lead curator Carmichael, who also sits on the board of the Australia Council, ensured he is complying with <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-arts/">arts protocols</a> for using First Nations cultural and intellectual property? </p>
<p>This isn’t about mistakes. This is about the wilful decision making focused on <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-21/five-times-mona-caused-controversy/8460440">shock tactics and sensationalism</a> that is part of the Dark Mofo brand.</p>
<p>Aboriginal curators and artists have been asking for positions of leadership and decision making for decades. If MONA, Dark Mofo, and indeed all of Australia’s arts institutions centred First Nations people in collaborative leadership and curatorial positions, festivals could still make work that engages without shock, and without contributing to ongoing colonial trauma.</p>
<p>The criticism of Union Flag was not about censorship, cancel culture or halting personal expression. It is about accountability and ethics. </p>
<p>To recognise and memorialise First Nations grief and loss caused by ongoing colonialism (not an historical past tense, as referred to by this project) requires sovereign Aboriginal led and self-determined decisions.</p>
<p>This work continues to be done by artists and academics, such as <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/arts-in-daily-life/artist-stories/vicki-couzens/">Dr Vicki Couzens</a>’, <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-fiona-foleys-biting-the-clouds-is-a-visceral-look-at-opium-and-control-on-the-colonial-frontier-151748">Dr Fiona Foley</a>, <a href="https://www.djonmundine.com/">Djon Mundine</a> and many other Aboriginal community peoples, artists, activists, curators and educators. </p>
<p>Our peoples’ prior and informed consent is non-negotiable to making shared, collective projects.</p>
<p>We don’t need to see our blood to know we bleed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/review-fiona-foleys-biting-the-clouds-is-a-visceral-look-at-opium-and-control-on-the-colonial-frontier-151748">Review: Fiona Foley's Biting the Clouds is a visceral look at opium and control on the colonial frontier</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paola Balla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Spanish artist Santiago Sierra’s request for the blood of First Nations’ people in a now cancelled artwork prompted widespread disgust. We need Black curators who work from community standpoints.Paola Balla, Lecturer in Indigenous Education and Indigenous art, PhD Candidate, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1536332021-01-24T18:53:23Z2021-01-24T18:53:23ZIt’s not just cricket: Australia Day isn’t the commercial winner it used to be<p>Australia Day used to be an obvious and uncontroversial occasion for brands to endear themselves to Australian consumers. No longer.</p>
<p>There has been a decided shift over the past decade in commercial attitudes to January 26, acknowledging the problematic nature of the date’s choice as our day of national celebration to our First Nations. </p>
<p>Nothing demonstrates this more conclusively than Cricket Australia dropping references to Australia Day in its promotions of Big Bash League fixtures. </p>
<p>It’s a significant step. The BBL doesn’t need to appease inner-urban lefties. Its customer base is as middle-Australia as you can get. Nor can this be dismissed as corporate timidity, running for cover lest woke activists on social media make a fuss. Indeed the decision has likely excited more controversy than would have business as usual.</p>
<p>“Well, it’s not cricket,” declared Prime Minister Scott Morrison when <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-yarwun-qld">asked about the move</a>. “I think Australian cricket fans would like to see Cricket Australia focus a lot more on cricket and a lot less on politics.” </p>
<p>News Corp’s outrage machine has been running even hotter. “The greatest betrayal of this country by a sporting body,” fumed <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6224736102001">Sky News host Chris Smith</a>.</p>
<p>Both Morrison and News Corp know something about appealing to core audiences. In this case, Cricket Australia’s attunement to its stakeholders is probably a better barometer of national feeling.</p>
<h2>Identity commerce</h2>
<p>Brands have never been shy about using national holidays for commercial gain.</p>
<p>Take Anzac Day – a date (on April 25) far less controversial than Australia Day, but one still fraught with sensitivities. </p>
<p>The Australian Football League has leveraged the “Anzac spirit” since 1995 through its Anzac Day match betweeen Collingwood and Essendon. Though not without its critics, the league has mostly managed to avoid running afoul of community sentiments in balancing commodification with commemoration.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379752/original/file-20210120-15-1jz3dls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fresh in our memories.</span>
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</figure>
<p>Other brands have not been so artful. Woolworths, for example. In 2015 the “Fresh Food People” ran an Anzac Day campaign involving an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-14/woolworths-picture-generator/6393044?nw=0">image generator</a> by which people could upload a photo of a relative who served in World War I “or a more recent war” to create a social media profile picture – overlaid with the phrase “Fresh in our Memories” and a Woolworths logo. </p>
<p>Woolworths executives were shocked to discover many people <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-14/woolworths-under-fire-for-anzac-promotion/6392848?nw=0">thought this distasteful</a>, and quickly <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-14/woolworths-under-fire-for-anzac-promotion/6392848?nw=0">dropped the promotion</a>.</p>
<p>But it generally takes a lot for brands to back away from commercialisation opportunities. Carlton & United Breweries also copped criticism in 2015 over its Victoria Bitter beer brand’s “Raise a Glass” campaign (running since 2009) but was unapologetic. </p>
<p>It defended <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/victoria-bitter-says-it-entitled-to-anzac-connection-as-target-pulls-some-items-from-shelves-20150417-1mn0vz">its association</a> with Anzac Day – citing a photo of Australian soldiers serving in Egypt during World War II who made a “VB” made out of Victoria Bitter beer bottles, and the <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/victoria-bitter-says-it-entitled-to-anzac-connection-as-target-pulls-some-items-from-shelves-20150417-1mn0vz">money it contributed</a> to the Returned & Services League and Legacy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Victoria Bitter 'Raise a Glass' campaign advert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380131/original/file-20210122-13-sn6d0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Victoria Bitter ‘Raise a Glass’ campaign advert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CUB</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>It did, however, <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/vb-scraps-anzac-day-raise-a-glass-campaign-after-seven-years-361742">drop the campaign in 2016</a>. And now, of course, CUB is owned by Japanese conglomerate Asahi, which makes such promotions somewhat awkward.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-be-consuming-more-than-just-patriotism-on-national-days-13655">Should we be consuming more than just patriotism on national days?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cashing in on Australia Day</h2>
<p>This may explain why VB has clung to its Australia Day promotions.</p>
<p>It used January 25 in 2018 to launch “<a href="https://campaignbrief.com/victoria-bitter-celebrates-aus/">Knock Off Times</a>” campaign. Last year it marketed <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/victoria-bitter-thongs-the-ultimate-aussie-fashion-accessory-released-ahead-of-australia-day-613627">VB-branded thongs</a> – the “ultimate fashion accessory for the Australia Day long weekend”. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Mercedes Benz's 2018 Australia Day advert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380146/original/file-20210122-17-6bxbzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mercedes Benz’s 2018 Australia Day advert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bestadsontv.com/ad/91915/Mercedes-Benz-Australia-Day">www.bestadsontv.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reason is simple: it’s a sales opportunity.</p>
<p>The national public holiday is a day to have a party with family and friends. Barbecues are popular. It’s a useful date for alcohol brands and others to time promotional campaigns that position themselves as dinky-di. </p>
<p>Coopers, now the largest Australian-owned brewery, has also used the day to promote its true-blue credentials. In 2017 it ran a national <a href="https://campaignbrief.com/coopers-celebrates-australia-d/">billboard campaign </a> with the slogan: “Australia Day. Australian-owned. Perfect.”</p>
<p>Even brands with tenuous connections to barbecues (or Australia) have gotten in on the act. A Mercedes-Benz promotion in 2018 featured sausages on a grill in the style of the German luxury car brand’s <a href="https://www.bestadsontv.com/ad/91915/Mercedes-Benz-Australia-Day">three-pointed badge</a></p>
<h2>Shifting sentiments</h2>
<p>But for brands attuned to middle Australia, waving the flag around Australia Day is losing its explicit appeal as community attitudes change. </p>
<p>Let’s not forget the date has never been universally embraced. Marking the date of arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788, January 26 was only nationally adopted as Australia Day in the mid-1930s. Given the date’s association with colonisation and dispossession, Indigenous Australians have lamented the choice ever since. In 1938 the first <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/day-of-mourning">Aboriginal Day of Mourning</a> and Protest was held in Sydney. Counter-commemorations of the day as Survival Day and Invasion Day are hardly new.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The first Aboriginal Day of Mourning, in Sydney in 1938." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380148/original/file-20210122-23-mi3xni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first Aboriginal Day of Mourning, in Sydney in 1938.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/day-of-mourning">AIATSIS</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Follow the lamb</h2>
<p>To appreciate how attitudes have shifted, think about lamb.</p>
<p>No advertiser has leveraged Australia Day more adroitly than Meat and Livestock Australia. It has pegged its advertising campaign promoting lamb as the “national meat” to the holiday for two decades, with former AFL player and “lambassador” Sam Kekovich fronting the campaign from 2005 to 2014. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZtWVJikNnx4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The longevity of the campaign’s timing with January 26 indicates the strategy’s <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/australia-day-get-in-or-get-out-of-the-way-561638">success</a>. </p>
<p>The campaigns have been consistently irreverent, appealing to the larrikan sense of humour. But in recent years they’ve also become far less “politically incorrect”. Gone are explicit appeals to nationalism and skewering of easy targets such as vegans. Instead their messages are about sharing and togetherness. </p>
<p>This year’s campaign, “Make lamb, not walls”, is a comical take on border closures. Notably it makes no mention of Australia Day.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aCIMYjqWxwA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Australian Lamb: Make Lamb, Not Walls.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Waning attachment</h2>
<p>Last week pollster Essential Research, which has been surveying Australians annually since 2015 about their feelings of Australia Day – and celebrating it on January 26 – <a href="https://essentialvision.com.au/category/essentialreport">published data</a> showing 53% of Australians regard it as just another public holiday (compared with 40% in January 2015).</p>
<p>Opposition to moving Australia Day to another day is still quite significant (35%) but, tellingly, just 17% of those aged 18-35 are opposed, compared with 55% of those 55 or older. Even among Coalition voters, more support a separate day than oppose it (49% to 45%).</p>
<p>The waning attachment of market-sensitive mainstream brands such as MLA to the day may be just as telling, in the same way betting markets are a useful adjunct to polls to accurately measure the popular mood.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-reveals-our-complex-attitudes-to-australia-day-110035">New research reveals our complex attitudes to Australia Day</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reading the room</h2>
<p>Cricket Australia’s detachment may be the most significant of all barometers. It’s hard to think of a brand more acutely aligned with Australian identity. </p>
<p>True, not all the BBL’s franchise teams are on board. The commercial and marketing manager of the two Melbourne teams, Nick Cummins, is batting on with promoting this year’s January 26 fixtures at the MCG as Australia Day matches. It was, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/melbourne-bbl-teams-to-defy-ca-and-stick-with-australia-day-20210121-p56vxh.html">he said</a> “a complex issue that needs time and extensive engagement”.</p>
<p>But the writing is on the wall. As Indigenous cricketer Dan Christian put it, there comes a time to “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/blood-was-spilled-anthony-mundine-applauds-cricket-s-australia-day-move-20210122-p56w5u.html">to read the room</a>”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It takes a lot for brands to back away from commercialisation opportunities. Cricket Australia’s backing away from Australia Day is significant.Sarah Duffy, Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney UniversityMichelle O'Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney UniversityPatrick van Esch, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, AUT Business School, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1531882021-01-13T05:26:15Z2021-01-13T05:26:15ZWhy is it so offensive to say ‘all lives matter’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378457/original/file-20210113-21-19clri6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week acting Australian Prime Minister Michael McCormack uttered a controversial phrase. </p>
<p>Defending <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-12/michael-mccormack-criticised-comparing-blm-protests-capitol-riot/13049322">previous comments</a> in which he compared the Capitol riots to the Black Lives Matter protests, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/12/australian-acting-pm-michael-mccormack-all-lives-matter-comment-labelled-beyond-disgusting">he asserted</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All lives matter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>McCormack was <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/01/12/michael-mccormack-all-lives-matter/">widely condemned</a> for his remarks, including by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-13/nephew-david-dungay-wants-apology-acting-pm-for-blm-remarks/13051866">Indigenous Australian activists</a>, Labor and the Greens. </p>
<p>His use of the phrase was reminiscent of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/11/senators-unite-to-block-pauline-hansons-all-lives-matter-motion">failed attempt</a> to have the Senate endorse a motion that “all lives matter” in 2019. As former Finance Minister Mathias Cormann <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/01/12/michael-mccormack-all-lives-matter/">noted at the time</a>, “you have to consider things in their context”.</p>
<p>As a linguist, who has just published <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Offensive-Prejudice-Language-Past-Present-dp-1108791786/dp/1108791786/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1583863519">On The Offensive</a>, a book about offensive language, “all lives matter” is a phrase that reveals prejudice. </p>
<p>So, where does the phrase “all lives matter” come from? And given it is of course true that all lives matter, why is the phrase so offensive in today’s context?</p>
<h2>Black Lives Matter</h2>
<p>“All lives matter” was born out of “Black Lives Matter”. This is a slogan and a social movement in response to racism and violence perpetuated against Black people, both historically and in the modern era. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protester carrying a 'Black Lives Matter' flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378478/original/file-20210113-13-1dsftot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s comments about Black Lives Matter have outraged his political opponents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stuart Villanueva AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can be traced back to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/13/trayvon-martin-parents-racism-alive-and-well-in-america">tragic incident</a> almost nine years ago. In February 2012, 17-year-old African-American Trayvon Martin was walking home in Florida, after buying Skittles at a convenience store.</p>
<p>Local resident George Zimmerman reported Martin to police as “suspicious”, then confronted the innocent young man and fatally shot him. Zimmerman claimed the act was in self-defence and was later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/14/zimmerman-acquitted-killing-trayvon-martin">acquitted</a>.</p>
<p>After this, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began to appear on social media, in support of Martin and in protest against social and systemic racism — that is, racism in society and through institutions. This grew into a <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/">movement</a>, co-founded by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-12-03/blm-activists-patrisse-cullors-alicia-garza-and-opal-tometi-bloomberg-50-2020">three Black community organisers</a>, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. </p>
<p>Concerns and anger about racism towards Black people was reinvigorated more recently after several high-profile, racially charged incidents in the US. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-is-a-revolutionary-peace-movement-85449">Black Lives Matter is a revolutionary peace movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These include the murder of 25-year-old <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52623151">Ahmaud Arbery</a>, a Black man who was shot while jogging in a south Georgia neighbourhood, and also the murder of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/12/george-floyd-trial-derek-chauvin-tried-alone">George Floyd</a>. </p>
<p>These tragic events inspired worldwide protests against <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-systemic-racism-and-institutional-racism-131152">institutional racism</a>. In Australia, Black Lives Matter marches also called for justice for Indigenous people, including Aboriginal man <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-cant-breathe-australia-must-look-in-the-mirror-to-see-our-own-deaths-in-custody-139848">David Dungay Jr</a>, who died in custody in 2015. There have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-432-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-no-one-has-ever-been-convicted-racist-silence-and-complicity-are-to-blame-139873">more than 430</a> Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991. </p>
<h2>‘All lives matter’</h2>
<p>What does it mean to say “all lives matter”?</p>
<p>When the Black Lives Matter motto arose, some people interpreted the phrase as confrontational and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/13/donald-trump-strikes-muddled-note-on-divisive-black-lives-matter">divisive</a>. They took it to exclude other races. The phrase “all lives matter” sprang up in response, ostensibly to argue all lives are equal because we are all human beings. </p>
<p>However, Black Lives Matter was not intended to mean that other lives do not matter. In a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/472910/systematic-inequality-economic-opportunity/">world</a> where Black people are stigmatised, marginalised, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6?r=US&IR=T">discriminated</a> against, Black Lives Matter simply recognises Black lives matter, too. </p>
<h2>Not a straightforward phrase</h2>
<p>Responding to “Black Lives Matter” with “all lives matter” derails the specific conversation about racism against Black people. The phrase is seen to dismiss, ignore, or deny these problems — it shuts down this important discussion. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-backlash-against-black-lives-matter-is-just-more-evidence-of-injustice-85587">The backlash against Black Lives Matter is just more evidence of injustice</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>US President <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/271159-trump-to-protesters-all-lives-matter">Donald Trump</a>, Vice President <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pence-black-lives-matter-race-face-the-nation/">Mike Pence</a>, and other US conservatives <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/11/politics/rudy-giuliani-black-lives-matter-inherently-racist/index.html">like Rudy Guiliani</a>, have used the phrase to criticise the Black Lives Matter movement. </p>
<p>Through its use, “all lives matter” has also become associated with <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/19/opinion/black-lives-matter-haven-white-supremacists/">white supremacy</a>, far-right nationalism and racism.</p>
<h2>A racist dog whistle</h2>
<p>Black Lives Matter is intended to promote the peaceful protest of racism against Black people, not only in the US, but worldwide. It also calls for immediate action against systemic and social racism. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Germans gather to protest the death of George Floyd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378482/original/file-20210113-19-xpr128.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People around the world have marched in support of Black Lives Matter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Meissner AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When used by Black people, “Black Lives Matter” is a declaration that Black lives do indeed matter. It is a call for protection and recognition. </p>
<p>When said by allies — supportive people outside of the racial group — “Black Lives Matter” acknowledges that Black lives do indeed matter, and says we stand in solidarity with members of Black and indigenous communities both locally, and globally. </p>
<p>So, “all lives matter” can be understood as a racist dog whistle — a direct push-back against the Black Lives Matter movement. It is far from an innocent term celebrating the worth of all humanity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153188/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Stollznow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Michael McCormack used a phrase that reveals prejudice during his stint as acting Prime Minister.Karen Stollznow, Research fellow, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1494442020-11-12T00:11:23Z2020-11-12T00:11:23ZWhy is the government trying to make the cashless debit card permanent? Research shows it does not work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367596/original/file-20201104-23-1nmurn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dystopic policy in Australia is often hidden in plain sight. </p>
<p>As Curtin University Professor Suvendrini Perera <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-slow-violence-of-letting-children-die-in-wa-s-kimberley-20190306-p5129u.html">has written</a>, systematic failures are not necessarily “spectacular acts” but the “decisions and indecisions of bureaucratic oversights and misplaced assumptions”. And these amount to a “slow violence” over time. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-been-stigmatising-unemployed-people-for-almost-100-years-covid-19-is-our-big-chance-to-change-this-143349">Australia has been stigmatising unemployed people for almost 100 years. COVID-19 is our big chance to change this</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One such failure is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/06/cashless-welfare-card-how-does-it-work-and-what-changes-is-the-government-proposing">Cashless Debit Card</a>, which has been trialled in Australia since 2016. </p>
<p>Yet, among all the measures in last month’s budget was the news the Morrison government will make the trial scheme “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-11/centrelink-cashless-welfare-card-how-to-christmas-shopping/12751038">ongoing</a>”. </p>
<h2>What is the Cashless Debit Card?</h2>
<p>The Cashless Debit Card scheme quarantines 80% of social security payments to a cashless card, which prevents spending on alcohol, illegal drugs and gambling products. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Empty shopping trolley in supermarket aisle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367597/original/file-20201104-13-2b821n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The card is supposed to quarantine welfare payment for essentials such as food and groceries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is currently being trialled in Ceduna in South Australia, the East Kimberley in Western Australia, the Goldfields in WA and Hervey Bay region in Queensland, with about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/03/cashless-welfare-card-fewer-than-10-of-senate-inquiry-submissions-back-bill">12,000 people</a> involved.</p>
<p>The card compulsorily includes a <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/families-and-children/programmes-services/welfare-conditionality/cashless-debit-card-overview">broad range of people</a> receiving support for many reasons, including payments for disability, parenting, caring, unemployment and youth allowance. The <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/commission-submission-cashless-debit-card-bill">Australian Human Rights Commission</a> is among those who have pointed out the the card disproportionately impacts First Nations people.</p>
<h2>Research shows it does not work</h2>
<p>Peer-reviewed research has consistently shown the card, and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1839-4655.2016.tb01243.x">income management</a> more broadly, do not meet policy objectives. A 2020 <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-dont-want-anybody-to-see-me-using-it-cashless-welfare-cards-do-more-harm-than-good-132341">academic study</a> of multiple locations found compulsory income management “can do as much harm as good”. </p>
<p>Survey respondents reported not having enough cash for essential items, while the research found the card “can also stigmatise and infantilise users”.</p>
<p>My research examining the card in the East Kimberley shows it makes <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/147866">life more difficult</a> for people subjected to it, including making it harder to manage money. People also reported the card made it more difficult to <a href="https://128f2a8c-7e2b-db29-c5ed-c863dde6f97c.filesusr.com/ugd/b629ee_01e1002bbfc748459d2a323d278d9300.pdf">buy basic goods</a> such as medicine and groceries. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-dont-want-anybody-to-see-me-using-it-cashless-welfare-cards-do-more-harm-than-good-132341">'I don't want anybody to see me using it': cashless welfare cards do more harm than good</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Other research from the Life Course Centre suggests compulsory income management has been linked to a reduction of <a href="https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/research/journal-articles/working-paper-series/do-welfare-restrictions-improve-child-health-estimating-the-causal-impact-of-income-management-in-the-northern-territory/">birth weight</a> and <a href="https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/research/journal-articles/working-paper-series/the-effect-of-quarantining-welfare-on-school-attendance-in-indigenous-communities/">school attendance</a>. The majority of these children are First Nations kids.</p>
<h2>Bill before parliament</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6608">bill</a> to make the card permanent was introduced to parliament just a day after the budget was handed down. </p>
<p>If passed, it will also transfer about 25,000 people in the <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/03_2020/im-cdc-nt-fact-sheet.pdf">Northern Territory and Cape York</a> who are on the Basics Card (an earlier version of income management) onto the Cashless Debit Card.</p>
<p>Introducing the bill to the House, Morrison government minister <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2Fa28c39ce-4e49-4b78-914d-ccca686a471e%2F0018%22">Trevor Evans said</a> the card was delivering “significant benefits” in the trial communities. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The program has the objective of reducing immediate hardship and deprivation, helping welfare recipients with their budgeting strategies and reducing the likelihood that they will remain on welfare and out of the workforce for extended periods.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2Fa28c39ce-4e49-4b78-914d-ccca686a471e%2F0018%22">also says</a> the card is used “just like an everyday bank card” and is seeing a reduction in drug and alcohol use and gambling. </p>
<h2>Senate inquiry</h2>
<p>But as highlighted above, the value of the scheme is heavily disputed by policy experts. People put on the card, community groups, lawyers and doctors <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/CashlessWelfareContinua/Submissions">also oppose</a> any expansion of the card. </p>
<p>The card’s expansion has been the subject of a brief <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/CashlessWelfareContinua">Senate inquiry</a>, which is due to report on November 17. </p>
<p>This is the sixth Senate inquiry into the Cashless Debit Card. Each one has seen submissions from across the community which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/03/cashless-welfare-card-fewer-than-10-of-senate-inquiry-submissions-back-bill">overwhelmingly reject the card</a>. </p>
<p>First Nations groups have <a href="http://www.amsant.org.au/apont/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/20201008-Why-we-oppose-the-Cashless-Debit-Card-Expansion-Bill.pdf">led the charge</a>, stating income management is not in the spirit of self-determination and the current bill would “directly contradict the recent National Agreement on Closing the Gap”. </p>
<h2>Smoke and mirrors</h2>
<p>Trials of public policy programs require, by definition, research to examine their performance and to justify any continuation. Yet, the government continues to rely on <a href="https://www.anneruston.com.au/joint_media_release_expanding_the_cashless_welfare_in_hervey_bay_and_bundaberg">anecdotes</a> and the widely criticised 2017 <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/families-and-children-programs-services-welfare-reform-cashless-debit-card/cashless-debit-card-evaluation">evaluation by ORIMA Research</a> as “proof” for the roll out of the Cashless Debit Card. </p>
<p>In 2018, the <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/implementation-and-performance-cashless-debit-card-trial">Australian National Audit Office</a> found the ORIMA evaluation was methodologically flawed and unable to provide any credible conclusions regarding the real impact of the trial. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial view of Hervey Bay, Queensland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367601/original/file-20201104-23-hldfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The card has been trialled in the Hervey Bay and Bundaberg region since 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the latest bill, the government also misrepresents the findings from a 2014 evaluation of compulsory income management into the Northern Territory, claiming the findings <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6608_ems_291e3448-b2fb-4116-b3df-d5759b59cb05/upload_pdf/JC000186.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">were supportive of income management</a>. Yet <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/Evaluation_of_New_Income_Management_in_the_Northern_Territory_full_report_0.pdf">this evaluation</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[did] not find any consistent evidence of income management having a significant systematic positive impact. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Compelled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/11/cashless-welfare-card-to-be-introduced-in-parts-of-queensland-after-coalitions-senate-win">by the Senate</a>, the government has since commissioned the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-11/centrelink-cashless-welfare-card-how-to-christmas-shopping/12751038">University of Adelaide</a> to evaluate the scheme. This research was due to be released by the end of 2019 but is yet to be made public.</p>
<p>When asked about the report in <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/cea95c13-3990-4065-81af-9d5dfcdedeb5/toc_pdf/Community%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2020_10_28_8259.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/estimate/cea95c13-3990-4065-81af-9d5dfcdedeb5/0000%22">Senate estimates last month</a>, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said it was not about deciding whether the card would continue, but to give advice on “what what was working particularly well”.</p>
<p>Perversely, the current bill also removes any need to further evaluate the Cashless Debit Card, instead opting to rely on the department to undertake its own <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6608_ems_291e3448-b2fb-4116-b3df-d5759b59cb05/upload_pdf/JC000186.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">desk-based research</a>. </p>
<h2>Why is evidence being ignored?</h2>
<p>The protracted life of the Cashless Debit Card in Australian public policy shows the ongoing disregard for evidence-based policy making. </p>
<p>It also shows the continued slow violence against thousands of Australians who deserve much better from elected officials and the structures set up to support them. </p>
<p>Whilst it is easy not to pay attention to the mundane details of policy, the Cashless Debit Card shows we must.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-insult-politicians-sing-the-praises-of-the-cashless-welfare-card-but-those-forced-to-use-it-disagree-123352">'An insult' – politicians sing the praises of the cashless welfare card, but those forced to use it disagree</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Klein receives funding from the British Academy, is a board member of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies and a member of the BIEN. </span></em></p>The Morrison government has introduced a bill to parliament to make the cashless debit card trial ‘ongoing’.Elise Klein, Senior Lecturer, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1472742020-10-21T01:09:06Z2020-10-21T01:09:06ZThe tale of ‘habitual criminal’ William King: a Black life in Victoria’s white justice system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363589/original/file-20201015-23-10gtmid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">William King circa 1890.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public Records Office, Victoria</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/">Black Lives Matters movement</a> in the United States and Australia has drawn welcome attention to Black deaths in the criminal justice system. Such fatalities are extreme manifestations of a long history of excessive punishment of Black bodies: from the use of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/one-photo-brings-australia-history-of-colonial-violence-into-fo/12363912">neck chains</a> on Indigenous Australian prisoners into the 1940s to their <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-indigenous-incarceration-rates-keep-rising-justice-reinvestment-offers-a-solution-107610">over-incarceration</a> for minor offences today.</p>
<p>One historical case that demonstrates this in Australia is that of William King, an African-American sailor who arrived in Melbourne in 1887. Little is known about King’s life before this but the following year he was convicted for burglary and sentenced to 18 months’ hard labour. Thus began a cycle in and out of prison.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/captain-cook-wanted-to-introduce-british-justice-to-indigenous-people-instead-he-became-increasingly-cruel-and-violent-127025">Captain Cook wanted to introduce British justice to Indigenous people. Instead, he became increasingly cruel and violent</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>King’s second conviction in 1889 — on four charges of receiving stolen goods — earned him nine years’ imprisonment. This sentence was unusually steep. <a href="https://prosecutionproject.griffith.edu.au/">Data</a> on prosecutions for this crime in Victoria during the 1880s show the vast bulk of offenders were sentenced to less than two years in prison, even when facing multiple charges.</p>
<p>Even more remarkable is the wide range of additional punishments King was subjected to in prison.</p>
<h2>‘Insolence’</h2>
<p><a href="https://criminalcharacters.com/">Prison records show</a> during his time in Pentridge, King was punished for 53 infractions of prison discipline, far more than any other prisoner at the time. These infractions, mostly consisting of “insolence” or “disobedience of orders”, were punished by stints of solitary confinement, months spent wearing heavy, iron chains and an extension of his original sentence.</p>
<p>King was a problematic individual. But the colour of his skin probably engendered hostility from the guards or increased their perception he was a dangerous offender in need of rigid control. King later said he believed his race had made him a target.</p>
<p>Public attention was drawn to King’s treatment in 1898 when an anonymous informant — most likely a former inmate — alerted socialist newspaper The Tocsin to his plight. </p>
<p>In a lengthy <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197528727">exposé</a>, the paper alleged prison guards not only deliberately targeted King by imposing groundless punishments on him, but even ganged up to give him beatings at night. King had spent more than 100 days in solitary confinement in the previous year alone.</p>
<p>Continued <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/89454595">media attention</a> may have prompted the decision to release King by “special authority” in 1900. </p>
<p>Just six weeks later he was convicted on two counts of burglary. At his trial, King said he would “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/190052007">rather be hanged</a>” than return to prison. He alleged continual police persecution following his release, and said he was merely a convenient suspect for the crimes.</p>
<p>While King’s assertions of innocence must be read with a grain of salt, officials at the time were undoubtedly influenced by pervading racist rhetoric that associated Black men with increased criminality and violence.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-black-lives-matter-protests-must-continue-an-urgent-appeal-by-marcia-langton-143914">Why the Black Lives Matter protests must continue: an urgent appeal by Marcia Langton</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Big, burly, repulsive’</h2>
<p>One of the detectives who worked the 1900 case, David George O’Donnell, tellingly recalled King in his later reminiscences as “a big, burly, repulsive looking American nigger … absolutely dangerous to life and limb”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363591/original/file-20201015-13-1hi9z1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William King circa 1908.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public Records Office Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>King’s return to prison was marked by further infractions and solitary confinement. In 1908, he was released for only a month before again being convicted of burglary. Declared a habitual criminal under the 1907 Indeterminate Sentences Act, King was remanded to prison indefinitely.</p>
<p>In 1909, King was convicted of stabbing prison guard William Sharp in the cheek with a knife. King claimed Sharp had brought the knife into his cell, and had been stabbed as King tried to get it away from him. As a result, King spent even more time in solitary confinement.</p>
<p>Later that year, Pentridge’s medical officer expressed concerns about the toll lengthy solitary stays were having on King’s mental and physical health after he lost ten pounds (4.5 kilograms) in just one week.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-molten-lava-to-cobbled-laneways-how-bluestone-shaped-melbournes-identity-118755">From molten lava to cobbled laneways: how bluestone shaped Melbourne’s identity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The use of solitary confinement against King was halted for several months — until he stabbed another warder. King’s defence was that he had been held down and beaten by five warders until he had managed to draw out a knife to defend himself. </p>
<p>King’s final trial occurred in 1911, this time for attempted murder of a guard. While admitting the offence, King again claimed to have been defending himself after repeated, racially-motivated violence from both guards and fellow prisoners. </p>
<h2>‘Treated like a wild beast’</h2>
<p>He claimed to have been treated “not like an ordinary prisoner, but more like a wild beast”. The jury appears to have been sympathetic, returning a verdict of not guilty.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363592/original/file-20201015-19-19wryrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William King, circa 1915.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public Records Office Victoria, VPRS 515/P1, volume 60, page 277.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>King remained incarcerated until 1916, when the government ordered his release on the condition he be immediately deported to the US. Police escorted King on board the ship Puacko, bound for San Francisco.</p>
<p>According to Detective O’Donnell’s <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/152596366">memoir</a>, the vessel’s Captain told King if they had any trouble from him during the voyage, a quick burial at sea would mean there would be no coroner’s inquest. </p>
<p>King was indeed buried at sea during the voyage. His cause of death was recorded as a stomach complaint.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alana Piper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The case of an African-American sailor who arrived in Melbourne in 1887 illustrates the long history of excessive punishment of Black bodies.Alana Piper, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1454462020-09-04T01:57:59Z2020-09-04T01:57:59ZHow easy would it be to ‘free’ the Aboriginal flag?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356454/original/file-20200903-22-1tist6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C24%2C4008%2C2561&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is growing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/22/freeing-the-aboriginal-flag-how-a-uniting-symbol-ended-up-in-the-hands-of-the-few">disquiet and anger</a> about restrictions on how the Aboriginal flag can be used, particularly after it was absent from the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-18/aboriginal-flag-to-be-absent-for-afl-indigenous-round/12569346">AFL’s recent Indigenous round</a>. </p>
<p>On Thursday, the Senate set up a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/09/03/federal-inquiry-established-aboriginal-flag">parliamentary inquiry</a> to look at options to “enable the flag to be freely used by the Australian community”. </p>
<p>So, what are the options to try and secure wider use of a flag that up until now <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-18/aboriginal-flag-to-be-absent-for-afl-indigenous-round/12569346">has been a</a> “uniting symbol for all Aboriginal people”? </p>
<h2>What is the problem?</h2>
<p>Unlike most other flags around the world, the Aboriginal flag is still protected by copyright. </p>
<p>That copyright is owned by Luritja man Harold Thomas, who <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2016/07/12/man-behind-our-famous-flag">created the flag</a> for the National Aboriginal Day march in July 1971. </p>
<p>When the flag was proclaimed as an official flag of Australia in 1995, Thomas’ authorship of the artistic work (that constitutes the flag) was contested. But in 1997, the <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/aboriginal-flag">Federal Court</a> declared him the author and owner of the copyright.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-our-copyright-laws-and-the-australian-aboriginal-flag-118687">Explainer: our copyright laws and the Australian Aboriginal flag</a>
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</em>
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<p>Thomas has since granted commercial licensing rights for use of the flag on clothing to <a href="https://wamclothing.com.au/">WAM Clothing</a>. There is also a licence to <a href="https://www.giftsmate.com.au/">Gifts Mate</a> for the right to reproduce the flag on merchandise and to <a href="https://www.flagworld.com.au/">Flagworld</a> for the right to produce the Aboriginal flag as a flag. </p>
<p>Anyone wishing to do any of these activities must get permission from one of these companies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="AFL player Eddie Betts wearing a t-shirt that says, 'free the flag'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356457/original/file-20200903-18-10r7ao1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">AFL player Eddie Betts has shown his support for the ‘free the flag’ campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Hunt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Importantly, copyright covers not just commercial reproductions of the flag but also non-commercial and private ones. This means it is fine to fly the flag, but anyone wishing to make their own copy or even get it as a tattoo needs Thomas’ permission.</p>
<h2>#Freetheflag</h2>
<p>There has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/22/freeing-the-aboriginal-flag-how-a-uniting-symbol-ended-up-in-the-hands-of-the-few">growing anger</a> over the licensing arrangements after the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-11/new-licence-owners-of-aboriginal-flag-threaten-football-codes/11198002">AFL, NRL</a> and Indigenous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/aug/26/indigenous-charity-forced-to-pay-2200-to-use-aboriginal-flag-on-t-shirts">community groups</a> have been asked to pay for using the flag and, in some cases, threatened with legal action. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.change.org/p/australia-change-the-licencing-agreement-around-the-aboriginal-flag-pridenotprofit">online petition</a>, started by Indigenous social enterprise Spark Health, to change the licensing agreement around the flag, has so far collected more than 140,000 signatures. AFL clubs have also <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/08/21/free-flag-afl-clubs-join-social-media-campaign">backed the #freetheflag campaign</a>. </p>
<h2>What does Labor want?</h2>
<p>Labor says it plans to draft a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-02/ken-wyatt-brands-labor-aboriginal-flag-plan-stunt-linda-burney/12619472">private members’ bill</a> to free up use of the flag. It also pushed for the Senate inquiry this week, which will report in October. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Labor Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Linda Burney" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356455/original/file-20200903-18-140dcfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Labor’s Linda Burney says she wants to introduce a bill to ‘free’ the flag.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bianca De Marchi/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the party’s Indigenous Affairs spokesperson Linda Burney <a href="https://www.lindaburney.com.au/media-releases/2020/8/21/statement-on-the-aboriginal-flag">explained</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>this is a national flag and the government has to make sure that it is freely available to all Australians. The government has the power and the resources to fix this.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For its part, the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-02/ken-wyatt-brands-labor-aboriginal-flag-plan-stunt-linda-burney/12619472">federal government</a> says Labor’s plan is a “stunt” and it is working to “resolve” the issue. </p>
<h2>What could a bill do?</h2>
<p>It is true the federal government has the power to change the law, but whether it can easily “fix” the situation is more doubtful. </p>
<p>One option would be to pass a law that specifically takes the copyright away from Thomas and gives it to the government. However, such a law could run afoul of the Constitution, which provides that the Commonwealth can acquire property from a person, but must compensate them on “just terms”. </p>
<p>Alternatively, legislation could be passed so that copyright in the flag ceases entirely and the work becomes part of the public domain. This would be radical and unprecedented approach in copyright law. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-favourites-show-aboriginal-art-can-transcend-social-divisions-and-art-boundaries-143827">Australians' favourites show Aboriginal art can transcend social divisions and art boundaries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A less drastic solution could be to introduce a law that restricted Thomas’ ability to grant licences of his copyright. </p>
<p>While these two options are likely to avoid constitutional issues (following the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/2012/43.html?context=0;query=JT%20International%20SA;mask_path=">2012 tobacco plain packaging case</a>), they could be politically and culturally controversial - as they would involve either taking away property from an Indigenous man, or severely restricting his autonomy around it.</p>
<p>Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/21/afl-slugged-with-retrospective-bill-for-use-of-aboriginal-flag-as-fans-urged-to-bring-their-own">signalled his reluctance</a> to do anything extreme. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t want to go down a pathway where we legislate to take away the copyright of an individual.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Or, there could be a ‘fair use’ provision</h2>
<p>Another option might be for legislation to draw inspiration from the Australian Law Reform Commission’s 2014 “<a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/copyright-and-the-digital-economy-alrc-report-122/4-the-case-for-fair-use">fair use” proposal</a>, which the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/intellectual-property/report/intellectual-property.pdf">Productivity Commission</a> backed in 2016. </p>
<p>This would need legislation to stipulate Thomas’ copyright would not be infringed by anyone making “fair use” of the flag. This could include applying the flag to clothing for charitable purposes, private uses such as tattoos, as well as the production of images that incorporate the flag for cultural, social or political events. </p>
<p>At the same time, this would not deprive Thomas of the ability to license the flag for purely commercial uses. </p>
<h2>What else can the government do?</h2>
<p>This week, a spokesperson for Wyatt described the flag issue as “delicate and sensitive” and the government is “working to resolve the matter”. </p>
<p>The government could enter into an agreement with Thomas to buy the copyright, or acquire the licences. This option could respect Thomas’ rights as copyright owner, although would likely come with a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/21/afl-slugged-with-retrospective-bill-for-use-of-aboriginal-flag-as-fans-urged-to-bring-their-own">hefty price tag </a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356456/original/file-20200903-16-1javwpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has been working on the flag issue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It also may not meet the concerns of others in the Indigenous community, as this would depend on any conditions the government might set for use of the flag. </p>
<p>Another approach would be for copyright to be assigned to an Indigenous-controlled body, as is the case with the Torres Strait Islander flag. Copyright in that flag is owned by the <a href="http://www.tsirc.qld.gov.au/our-work/torres-strait-islander-flag">Torres Strait Island Regional Council</a>, and requests to reproduce it must go to that body.</p>
<h2>Our copyright law needs to do better</h2>
<p>The flag debate also demonstrates how inadequate our law is when copyrighted works end up as cultural symbols or icons. </p>
<p>In the absence of a fair use exception, the law does not account for the fact that flags might be “artistic works” according to copyright, but the ways they are used and the emotions they inspire go well beyond the law’s concern with remunerating authors. </p>
<p>As Gunditjmara woman and owner of Spark Health, Laura Thomson, <a href="https://www.podcastoneaustralia.com.au/podcasts/the-briefing-podcast/the-aboriginal-flag-copyright-controversy-explaine">recently observed</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In many ways, it was the people that gave the flag value, not Harold.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabella Alexander receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She has also received funding from the State Library of NSW. </span></em></p>The Senate has just announced an inquiry into the use of the Aboriginal flag. Unlike other flags, it is still protected by copyright.Isabella Alexander, Professor of Law, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1445962020-08-25T20:05:21Z2020-08-25T20:05:21ZFrom 7809 Marcialangton to 7630 Yidumduma: 5 asteroids named after Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354518/original/file-20200825-22-czpvz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C1000%2C488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year’s Mabo Day, June 3, was a special day for Indigenous astronomy. That was when the International Astronomical Union <a href="https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/97/">officially accepted</a> five new asteroid names that honour a selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, elders and academics whose work has been particularly influential.</p>
<p>The move follows similar commemorations in 2019, the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2019/01/2019-international-year-of-indigenous-languages/">International Year of Indigenous Languages</a>, when a plethora of stars, exoplanets, planetary features and asteroids were given Indigenous names. They included six stars that received names from the Wardaman (NT), Booring (Vic) and Kamilaroi/Euahlayi (NSW) communities, as well as a star and planet named Bubup (“child”) and Yanyan (“boy”) – names derived from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boon_wurrung">Boon Wurrung</a> language of Melbourne.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stories-behind-aboriginal-star-names-now-recognised-by-the-worlds-astronomical-body-87617">The stories behind Aboriginal star names now recognised by the world's astronomical body</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353542/original/file-20200819-22-v2c33a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">IAU Name ExoWorlds: Australia.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/overview/">Asteroids</a> (sometimes also called <a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net//iau/lists/MPNames.html">minor planets</a> are large rocks in the Solar system, ranging from 10 metres to more than 100 kilometres in diameter. Most are found in a region called the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and are only visible with a powerful telescope.</p>
<p>Here are the five asteroids that have been newly named in recognition of influential Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.</p>
<h2>7546 Meriam</h2>
<p>Formally known as <a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=7546">1979 MB4</a>, this is a 2km-wide asteroid of the Flora family in the asteroid belt’s inner region. It is 2.3 times farther from the Sun than Earth is, and takes 3.5 years to complete one orbit.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Maier Dance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353124/original/file-20200817-24-p2g5tu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Meriam dancers performing the Maier (Shooting Star) Dance for the Werner Herzog film <em>Fireball</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Duane Hamacher</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Meriam are an Indigenous Australian group of people in the islands of the eastern Torres Strait, who are united by a common culture and language: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriam_language">Meriam Mir</a>, Australia’s only Papuan language.</p>
<p>Meriam people developed and maintain complex systems of astronomical knowledge centred around <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tagai">Tagai</a>, a great warrior who is central to their Creation and identity. Meriam star knowledge has featured in academic papers, educational curricula, planetarium displays, a forthcoming commemorative coin, and the upcoming Werner Herzog film <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2020/07/werner-herzog-fireball-apple-1234576135/">Fireball</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-shark-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-culture-in-the-torres-strait-15850">A shark in the stars: astronomy and culture in the Torres Strait</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>7733 Segarpassi</h2>
<p>Formally known as <a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=7733">1979 MH4</a>, this is a 1.9km-wide asteroid in the main asteroid belt. It is 2.4 times farther from the Sun than Earth is, and its orbit takes 3.7 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353551/original/file-20200819-42861-5oqn7i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uncle Segar Passi, senior elder on Mer and award-winning artist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cairns Art Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Segar Passi is a Dauareb man and highly respected Senior Elder on Mer (Murray Island) in the eastern Torres Strait. He is an award-winning artist who shares extensive traditional knowledge about Meriam ecology, meteorology and astronomy. Uncle Segar’s paintings reflect careful observations of the local environment, using an extensive colour palette to reflect and embed deep layers of knowledge about ecology, geology, astronomy, and culture.</p>
<p>Uncle Segar has coauthored academic publications featuring Meriam astronomy, including papers on <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1605.08507.pdf">music and astronomy</a> in the Torres Strait, how Meriam people observe the <a href="http://www.aboriginalastronomy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Hamacher-et-al-2019-Stellar-Scintillation.pdf">twinkling stars</a> to predict seasonal change, and the link between death and <a href="http://www.aboriginalastronomy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Death_And_Maier.pdf">Maier</a> (bright meteors) in Meriam traditions.</p>
<h2>7630 Yidumduma</h2>
<p>Formally known as <a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=7630">1979 MR2</a>, this 6.4km-wide asteroid of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koronis_family">Koronis family</a> is in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It is thought to have formed 2 billion years ago from a major collision between two larger bodies. It takes 4.8 years to orbit the Sun.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353552/original/file-20200819-42893-41tpw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Senior Wardaman Elder Yidumduma Bill Harney, commonly known as ‘Bush Professor’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Darwin University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/australian-biography-bill-harney">Bill Yidumduma Harney</a> is a Senior Wardaman Elder near Katherine, NT, who grew up in a traditional Aboriginal community. He is a globally renowned artist, storyteller and musician and was fully initiated in Wardaman Law. He has shared the rich and complex astronomical systems of Wardaman astronomy in his books <a href="https://www.hughcairns.com.au/single-post/2016/02/05/dgh">Dark Sparklers</a> and <a href="https://www.hughcairns.com.au/book-inner-page">Four Circles</a>, as well as academic papers on navigation.</p>
<p>Uncle Yidumduma was featured in the Message Stick program <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HgloElAoNM">Before Galileo</a> and the Warwick Thornton film <a href="https://www.wedontneedamapmovie.com/">We Don’t Need a Map</a>. Four of the six IAU-approved Aboriginal star names come from Yidumduma’s star knowledge.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-traditions-describe-the-complex-motions-of-planets-the-wandering-stars-of-the-sky-97938">Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>7809 Marcialangton</h2>
<p>Formally known as <a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=7809">1979 ML1</a>, this 4.25km-wide asteroid is in the main asteroid belt and has a 3.6-year orbit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353553/original/file-20200819-42831-1pf50ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton AO, Associate Provost and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Marcia Langton AO is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, Associate Provost, and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. Born in Brisbane, she is a Yiman and Bidjara woman whose traditional country is central Queensland. She has been involved in the fight for Aboriginal rights, Native Title, and was the first Indigenous graduate in anthropology at ANU before completing a PhD in geography at Macquarie University.</p>
<p>In 2018 she spearheaded the <a href="https://indigenousknowledge.unimelb.edu.au/curriculum">Indigenous Knowledge Resources</a> for Australian School Curricula Project to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge of fire, water, and astronomy into the Australian National Curriculum for all subjects in primary and secondary school.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-the-morning-star-the-real-tale-of-the-voyagers-aboriginal-music-18288">Beyond the morning star: the real tale of the Voyagers' Aboriginal music</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>7547 Martinnakata</h2>
<p>Formally known as <a href="https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=7547">1979 MO4</a>, this is a 3.32km-wide asteroid of the Koronis family in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It is thought to have formed 2 billion years ago from a major collision between two larger bodies and takes 4.8 years to complete an orbit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353558/original/file-20200819-42976-alzuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professor Martin Nakata, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) at James Cook University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Research Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Martin Nakata AM is a Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Education & Strategy) at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. He is an Indigenous Torres Strait Islander whose traditional country is the island of Naghir (Nagi). He is the first Torres Strait Islander to earn a PhD in Australia and his work focuses on the development of the Cultural Interface, which he describes in his book <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/disciplining-savages-savaging-disciplines/ebook">Disciplining the Savages, Savaging the Disciplines</a>.</p>
<p>Professor Nakata leads research and the development of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00048623.2014.917786">tech programs</a> at the interface of Indigenous astronomy and Western astrophysics and worked to develop collaborations between tech companies, libraries and universities to enable Indigenous communities to share their astronomical knowledge on their terms.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354192/original/file-20200822-20-6pct6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orbit of asteroid 7547 Martinnakata.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IAU Minor Planet Center</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane W. Hamacher received funding from the Australian Research Council as well as the Pierce Bequest and the Laby Foundation at the University of Melbourne. He is also a member of the International Astronomical Union.</span></em></p>Following on from the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2020 has seen 5 asteroids given new names recognising the contribution of illustrious Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.Duane Hamacher, Associate Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1431792020-07-30T09:42:49Z2020-07-30T09:42:49ZWe have 16 new Closing the Gap targets. Will governments now do what’s needed to meet them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350341/original/file-20200730-25-1n17pcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5559%2C3450&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Morrison government has finally unveiled the long-awaited new <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/national-agreement-ctg.pdf?q=0720">National Agreement on Closing the Gap</a>. </p>
<p>After more than two years of consultation, and a year of negotiations, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-act-30jul20">full of praise</a> for the new agreement, saying it was “realistic” and would have “very meaningful impact”. <a href="https://coalitionofpeaks.org.au">Coalition of Peaks</a> lead negotiator Aunty Pat Turner similarly described it as a “huge step forward”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-closing-the-gap-targets-will-cover-attachment-to-land-and-culture-143636">New 'Closing the Gap' targets will cover attachment to land and culture</a>
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<p>The new agreement is an important achievement by the Coalition of Peaks. This is yet another example of Indigenous people exercising their agency and should be applauded.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding this, close examination of the new targets reveal both important gains and unanswered questions about power sharing. </p>
<p>While some of <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/targets">the targets</a> are associated with clear, quantifiable measures for annual reporting, this is lacking for others. Meanwhile, the level of transparency around governments, when it comes to the critical work of transforming their own agencies, is much more limited.</p>
<h2>A revamped Closing the Gap</h2>
<p>The new agreement represents extensive community consultations and negotiations between Indigenous organisations and all levels of government. </p>
<p>In a fundamental change from the original <a href="http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/health/_archive/indigenous-reform/national-agreement_sept_12.pdf">Closing the Gap framework in 2008</a>, the new agreement has been driven by Indigenous organisations, represented by the <a href="https://coalitionofpeaks.org.au/">Coalition of Peaks</a>. </p>
<p>At its heart, it involves four “<a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/priority-reforms">priority reforms</a>” to change the way governments do business with Indigenous peoples. These include:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>establish further partnerships between governments and Indigenous peoples which respond to local priorities</p></li>
<li><p>build the Indigenous community-controlled sector to deliver services to support closing the gap</p></li>
<li><p>transform mainstream government agencies to better respond to Indigenous peoples’ needs, including a commitment to “eliminate racism” </p></li>
<li><p>improve and share access to data and information to enable Indigenous communities to make informed decisions</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The agreement also <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/targets">sets 16 targets</a>, with an emphasis on socio-economic outcomes for Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-505" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/505/7903bda191f853ef951fe2126a6faeecdb327dba/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>More targets, but the devil’s in the detail</h2>
<p>The original Closing the Gap just focused on health, education and employment. The scope of what was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-30/closing-gap-targets-agreement-aboriginal-torres-strait-islander/12506232">announced on Thursday</a> is much broader, taking in child development, youth education and employment, housing, the incarceration of adults and children, child removal, family violence, suicide, land and sea rights and language use. </p>
<p>Further targets are also promised on access to information, community infrastructure, and inland water rights. </p>
<p>In this sense, the new targets are a significant improvement, as the range of policy areas is better aligned with Indigenous demands of governments. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reconciliation-week-a-time-to-reflect-on-strong-indigenous-leadership-and-resilience-in-the-face-of-a-pandemic-139311">Reconciliation Week: a time to reflect on strong Indigenous leadership and resilience in the face of a pandemic</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But there is also a great deal of devil in the detail. This can been seen in the target on Indigenous rights and interests in land. </p>
<p>The promised increase in the proportion of Australia subject to Indigenous legal rights or interests sounds positive (15% by 2030), but it will be limited in practice. It is likely to be met by weak “non-exclusive” native title rights, which give traditional owners little control over their Country. This target is also likely to be met anyway, without any government action.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-506" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/506/c8c46e38609b7c7641787a1f86d3ef76b57d27cb/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A focus on socio-economic change, not self-determination</h2>
<p>Other key outcomes, such as increasing the number of Indigenous languages spoken, have no quantified target set. This may be for technical reasons (the strength of Indigenous languages is difficult to measure). However, the vagueness of such targets can’t help but reduce accountability. </p>
<p>Other important targets — such as the headline promise to “close the gap in life expectancy within a generation, by 2031” — remains unlikely to be met in full. This was included in the original Closing the Gap agreement, yet Indigenous mortality rates have seen <a href="https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/life-expectancy">little improvement </a>over the last decade. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to change dramatically by 2031, given the current burden of <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/190_10_180509/hoy11300_fm.pdf">chronic diseases</a> among Indigenous peoples.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pat Turner measuring an amount with her hand, with Scott Morrison in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350390/original/file-20200730-29-18e3zu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some targets do not have clearly measurable outcomes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It must also be noted that with the exception of the targets around language use and land and sea rights, the new targets remain focused on reducing Indigenous socio-economic difference. They do little to enable Indigenous peoples to exercise self-determination in political and economic domains. Or give Indigenous people real control over activities happening on their Country. </p>
<p>The paradox at the heart of the new agreement is that it recognises targets can only be met through power-sharing. But fundamental power imbalances are not addressed. Political self-determination and economic autonomy are the very things governments have refused to commit to in the targets themselves.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-507" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/507/caf9190332b40cd3c09e23b7cd079120c2e735df/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Will this agreement work?</h2>
<p>The new agreement is precariously placed. A great deal hangs on the implementation plans governments must now produce to meet these commitments. These plans — and the willingness and ability of organisations to implement them — may ultimately be more important than the targets themselves.</p>
<p>The unwillingness of governments so far to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/government-failing-children-by-refusing-to-raise-criminal-age-of-responsibility-say-activists-and-experts">raise the rate of criminal responsibility</a>, which is something firmly within their control, does not auger well for their commitment.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lidia-thorpe-wants-to-shift-course-on-indigenous-recognition-heres-why-we-must-respect-the-uluru-statement-141609">Lidia Thorpe wants to shift course on Indigenous recognition. Here's why we must respect the Uluru Statement</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is also a lack of specific and identified funding. While there is a recognition that “<a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/national-agreement-ctg.pdf">significant and effective use of resources</a>” are needed, there are few promises to provide them.</p>
<p>Further, the newly found enthusiasm for “<a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/partnership">partnership</a>” with Indigenous people carries significant risks. What is unclear in the new agreement is who is responsible for what and at what point. </p>
<p>The lack of clear and agreed ownership risks misunderstanding. Exactly what are the mechanisms to hold people and governments to account?</p>
<p>Ultimately and importantly, however, this new agreement has created an adjustment of attitudes. It sets a standard against which government actions can be measured, and provides a genuine chance to end the tyranny of low expectations when it comes to Indigenous affairs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Markham receives or has recently received funding for research related to Indigenous public policy from the Commonwealth and NSW governments.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhiamie Williamson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The revamped Closing the Gap agreement is a significant achievement for Indigenous organisations. But we need more detail about who will be responsible for what.Francis Markham, Research Fellow, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityBhiamie Williamson, Research Associate & PhD Candidate, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1361752020-04-23T19:59:57Z2020-04-23T19:59:57ZCaring for community to beat coronavirus echoes Indigenous ideas of a good life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328234/original/file-20200416-140719-1likaqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6798%2C2526&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Suz Te Tai (Ngati Manu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us our own well-being is intimately connected to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington-top-stories/120791996/coronavirus-thank-you-to-our-essential-workers">other people</a> and our natural environment. </p>
<p>For many people, living in a small lockdown bubble for weeks has put a heavy strain on <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/04/coronavirus-covid-19-lockdown-triggers-huge-increase-in-mental-health-issues.html">their mental health and relationships</a>. For others, it’s been a chance to <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018743585/coronavirus-multigenerational-bubbles-enjoying-lockdown">strengthen multi-generational ties</a>.</p>
<p>Māori and Indigenous peoples elsewhere have long called for social and political transformation, including a broader approach to health that values social and cultural well-being of communities, rather than only the physical well-being of an individual. </p>
<p>When our COVID-19 lockdowns end, we can’t afford to stop <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/parenting/moe/23-04-2020/together-apart-keeping-kids-connected-under-rahui/">caring</a> about collective well-being. New Zealand is well positioned to show the world how this could be done, including through the New Zealand Treasury’s <a href="https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/higher-living-standards/our-living-standards-framework">Living Standards Framework</a> – but only if we listen more to Māori and other diverse voices.</p>
<h2>Relationships are at the heart of living well</h2>
<p>For many Indigenous peoples, good relationships are fundamental to a well-functioning society. In New Zealand, these connections are captured in Māori narratives charting our relationships with people and other parts of the natural world. The relationships are woven in a complex genealogical network. </p>
<p>Indigenous well-being begins where our relationships with each other and with the natural environment meet. These intersections generate responsibilities for remembering what has come before us, realising well-being today, and creating sustainable conditions for future generations.</p>
<p>Practices that enhance the importance of these relationships are central to Māori notions of “<a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/tz746/">manaakitanga</a>” (caring and supporting others) and “<a href="http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_109_2000/Volume_109%2C_No._4/Kaitiakitanga%3A_A_Maori_anthropological_perspective_of_the_Maori_socio-environmental_ethic_of_resource_management%2C_by_Merata_Kawharu%2C_p_349-370/p1">kaitiakitanga</a>” (caretaking of the environment and people). We find these <a href="https://www.teaomaori.news/iwi-leaders-partner-food-service-provide-kai-vulnerable-whanau-nationwide">commitments and practices</a> in <a href="https://maorimaps.com/">communities</a> and tribal groups across New Zealand.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/community-wellbeing-best-measured-from-the-ground-up-a-yawuru-example-64162">Community wellbeing best measured from the ground up: a Yawuru example</a>
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<p>Similarly, the Yawuru people of Broome in north-western Australia contend that good connections with other people and the natural environment play a central role in “<a href="http://www.yawuru.org.au/community/mabu-liyan-framework/?doing_wp_cron=1586926205.3619189262390136718750">mabu liyan</a>”, living a good life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329915/original/file-20200423-47815-1payatd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Yawuru conducted a well-being survey that highlighted the crucial role of connectedness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Puertollano, used with permission</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329917/original/file-20200423-47784-1lgp2qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=681&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ojibwe women wearing their healing (jingle) dresses: Robyn Copenance, Sharona Seymour, Rayanna Seymour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In North America, relationships as well as the need for cooperation and justice between all beings ground the Anishinaabe good-living concept of “<a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/environment-and-society/9/1/ares090102.xml">minobimaatisiiwin</a>”. </p>
<p>In South America, reciprocity in human interactions with nature is fundamental to the Quechua people’s good living notion of “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21683565.2018.1468380">allin kawsay</a>”. </p>
<p>For Indigenous peoples everywhere, navigating our complex responsibilities for people and other living things in ways that enrich our existence is fundamental.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329951/original/file-20200423-47799-849iui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mariaelena Huambachano and Quechua ladies from Choquecancha, discussing the importance of seeds for well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mariaelena Huambachano</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Living standards and well-being</h2>
<p>The New Zealand Treasury’s <a href="https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/higher-living-standards/our-living-standards-framework">Living Standards Framework</a>, launched in late 2018, recognises that living well consists of many dimensions, including health, housing and social connections. It is based on 12 well-being indicators. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272140/original/file-20190502-117570-m26iqf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Significantly, the framework has <a href="https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/pq/article/view/5294/4649">some foundation</a> in what is known as the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/capability-approach/">capability approach</a>, which argues the focus of well-being should be on what people are capable of doing and what they value.</p>
<p>The capability approach has been pivotal in moving discussions away from measures <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-well-being-approach-to-budget-is-not-new-but-could-shift-major-issues-116296">based purely on income</a> to a broader scope of concern: the ability to live well by relating to others and the natural environment, or by participating politically. </p>
<p>Indigenous peoples promote the centrality of collective well-being. They emphasise the importance of sustaining relationships over generations. Examples grounded in such thinking include the <a href="https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/a-matou-mohiotanga/corporate-documents/tpk-annualreport-2007/online/4">Māori Potential Approach</a>, which focuses on Māori strength and success, <a href="https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/whakamahia/whanau-ora">Whānau Ora</a> and many earlier innovations in Māori health policy. This Indigenous work is more important than ever <a href="https://www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/2020/04/17/estimated-inequities-in-covid-19-infection-fatality-rates-by-ethnicity-for-aotearoa-new-zealand/">for shaping policy to tackle inequities</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-well-being-approach-to-budget-is-not-new-but-could-shift-major-issues-116296">New Zealand's well-being approach to budget is not new, but could shift major issues</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Creating a fairer future for all</h2>
<p>When talking about New Zealand’s response to COVID-19, many people have been invoking the well-known Māori phrase <a href="https://twitter.com/WgtnCC/status/1250680323869863937">He waka eke noa</a> (we are all in this together).</p>
<p>But our social and political arrangements are not really equitable – and that can cost lives when it comes to a crisis like COVID-19.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.tepunahamatatini.ac.nz/2020/04/17/estimated-inequities-in-covid-19-infection-fatality-rates-by-ethnicity-for-aotearoa-new-zealand/">modelling</a> shows the COVID-19 infection fatality rate varies by ethnicity. In New Zealand, it is around 50% higher for Māori (if age is the main factor) and more than 2.5 times that of New Zealanders of European descent if underlying health conditions are taken into account. </p>
<p>In the face of so many challenges – COVID-19, climate change, poverty – we have significant opportunities. One is to learn from the current experience, which has shown everyone the importance of thinking beyond individual well-being, to develop a well-being framework that better reflects diversity. </p>
<p>At least in its current form, New Zealand’s Living Standards Framework is missing diverse voices, especially of our most vulnerable communities such as children, older people, Māori and Pasifika communities. </p>
<p>Around the world, work is underway on how to develop well-being indicators for <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230284814">children</a>, <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/mds/projects/HaPS/HE/ICECAP/ICECAP-O/index.aspx">older people</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875067211000320">people with disabilities</a>, and <a href="http://www.yawuru.org.au/community/mabu-liyan-framework/?doing_wp_cron=1586926628.5647659301757812500000">Indigenous communities</a>. </p>
<p>So too are well-being initiatives undertaken by local Māori communities. The tribal census undertaken by <a href="https://ngatiwhatuaorakei.com/">Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei</a> is an example of communities committed to the aspirations of their people. To do this, we need to rethink long-standing assumptions about what well-being is and how it is measured. </p>
<p>Beyond this current crisis, we need to apply the same collective approach – of <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/411097/covid-19-how-to-protect-yourself-and-others">protecting each other</a> to protect ourselves – to the other social and political challenges we face. By doing that, we could create a better future for all of us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136175/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Krushil Watene receives funding from The Royal Society of NZ, and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. She is affiliated with Ngāti Manu, Te Hikutu, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Tonga </span></em></p>When our COVID-19 lockdowns end, we can’t afford to stop caring about collective well-being. NZ is well positioned to show the world how it’s done – if we listen to Māori and other diverse voices.Krushil Watene, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1317612020-02-17T18:55:41Z2020-02-17T18:55:41Z65,000-year-old plant remains show the earliest Australians spent plenty of time cooking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315662/original/file-20200217-11044-1bvette.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C221%2C2576%2C1501&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers May Nango, Djaykuk Djandjomerr and S. Anna Florin collecting plants in Kakadu National Park. Reproduced with permission of Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elspeth Hayes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s first people ate a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and other plant foods, many of which would have taken considerable time and knowledge to prepare, according to our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14723-0">analysis</a> of charred plant remains from a site dating back to 65,000 years ago.</p>
<p>We already know the earliest Aboriginal Australians arrived <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22968">at least 65,000 years ago</a>, after voyaging across Island Southeast Asia into the prehistoric supercontinent of Sahul, covering modern mainland Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. </p>
<p>But while the timing of this journey is becoming relatively clear, we know comparatively little about the people who made it, including their culture, technology, diet, and how they managed to thrive in these new landscapes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">Buried tools and pigments tell a new history of humans in Australia for 65,000 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our research, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14723-0">published today in Nature Communications</a>, describes charred plant remains found at the archaeological site of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Madjedbebe">Madjedbebe</a>, a sandstone rock shelter on Mirarr country in western Arnhem Land. It provides the earliest evidence for plant foods consumed by humans outside of Africa and the Middle East and tells an important story about the diet of the earliest known Aboriginal people in Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315642/original/file-20200217-10980-ljx1ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madjedbebe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Abbott</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is the evidence?</h2>
<p>While animal bones do not survive in the earliest levels of Madjedbebe, remarkably, plant remains do survive as a result of charring in ancient cooking hearths. </p>
<p>We recovered these remains using a simple yet effective method. By immersing the samples in water, the light charcoal pieces float and separate easily from the heavier sandy sediment in which they are buried. </p>
<p>Among the charred plant remains are fruit pips, nutshells, peelings and fibrous parts from tubers, and fragments of palm stem. These are the discarded leftovers of meals cooked and shared at the rockshelter tens of thousands of years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315644/original/file-20200217-11023-jlc79t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electron microscope image of a peeling from an aquatic plant’s underground storage organ. Note the ‘eye’ similar to those found in potatoes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">S. Anna Florin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-when-did-australias-human-history-begin-87251">Friday essay: when did Australia’s human history begin?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Today, the Madjedbebe rockshelter and the environments around it are just as culturally and economically significant to the Mirarr people as they were in the deep past. Our research is the result of a partnership with the Mirarr, bringing together Indigenous and scientific knowledge. </p>
<p>With the help of traditional owners and research colleagues, May Nango and Djaykuk Djandjomerr, we identified the modern-day plants that would have been eaten at Madjedbebe, and the cooking techniques needed to make them edible. Some foods, such as fruits, required minimal processing. But others, such as the <em>man-kindjek</em> or <a href="http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Dioscorea+bulbifera">cheeky yam</a>, needed to be cooked, leached and/or pounded before being eaten. Some of these preparation techniques can take up to several days.</p>
<p>We studied the charred plant remains under the microscope, identifying them by matching their features with the modern-day plant specimens. Using this technique we identified several fruits and nuts, including “plums” (<em>Buchanania</em> sp., <em>Persoonia falcata</em>, <em>Terminalia</em> sp.), and canarium (<em>Canarium australianum</em>) and pandanus nuts (<em>Pandanus spiralis</em>); three types of roots and tubers, including an aquatic-growing species; and two types of palm stem.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315646/original/file-20200217-11017-j0twm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Microscopic structures preserved in the remains of a palm stem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">S. Anna Florin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does this tell us about early Aboriginal lifestyles?</h2>
<p>Several of these plant foods would have required processing. This included the peeling and cooking of roots, tubers and palm stems; the pounding of palm pith to separate its edible starch from less-digestible fibres; and the laborious extraction of <a href="https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/discover/nature/plants/pandanus/">pandanus</a> kernels from their hard drupes. We could only accomplish the latter feat with the help of an electric power saw, although they were traditionally opened by pounding with a mortar and pestle. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315647/original/file-20200217-11023-3osmf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=991&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plant foods eaten at Madjedbebe included fruits and nuts, underground storage organs, pandanus kernels and palm. Top left: <em>man-dudjmi</em> or green plum; top right: <em>man-mobban</em> or billygoat plum; middle: May Nango and Djaykuk Djandjomerr removing the palm heart from a <em>man-marrabbi</em> or sand palm; bottom left: drupes of the <em>man-belk</em> or pandanus tree; bottom right: <em>karrbarda</em> or long yam. Photos reproduced with permission of Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elspeth Hayes/S. Anna Florin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also evidence for the further processing of plants, including seed-grinding, left as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22968">microscopic traces on the grinding stones</a> found in the same archaeological layer at the site. This represents the first evidence of seed-grinding outside Africa. </p>
<p>Along with other technology found at the site, such as the oldest known edge-ground axes in the world, it demonstrates the technological innovation of the first Australians. They were investing knowledge and labour into the acquisition of plant starches, fats and proteins, as well as into the production of the technologies required to procure and process them (axes and grinding stones).</p>
<p>These findings predate any other evidence for human diet in this region, including Island Southeast Asia and New Guinea. </p>
<p>It calls into question the theory that humans migrating through Southeast Asia fed themselves with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23621508?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">as little effort as possible</a>, moving quickly along coastal pathways eating shellfish and other easy-to-catch foods.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/island-hopping-study-shows-the-most-likely-route-the-first-people-took-to-australia-93120">Island-hopping study shows the most likely route the first people took to Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Contrary to this, the plant remains found at Madjedbebe suggest that the first Aboriginal people were skilled foragers, using a range of techniques to eat a diverse range of plant foods, some of which were time-consuming and labour-intensive to eat. </p>
<p>Their ability to adapt to this new Australian setting had little to do with a “least effort” way of life, and everything to do with behavioural flexibility and innovation, drawing on the skills and knowledge that allowed successful migration across Island Southeast Asia and into Sahul. </p>
<p>This required the first Australians to pass their knowledge of plants and cooking techniques down through the generations and apply them to new Australian plant species. Along with the innovation of new technology, this allowed them to get the most out of the Australian environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Anna Florin receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Wenner Gren Foundation, the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and the Dan David Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Clarkson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Fairbairn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Charred plant remains from one of the oldest archaeological sites reveal that the first Australians ate a varied - and sometimes labour-intensive - diet.Anna Florin, PhD candidate, The University of QueenslandAndrew Fairbairn, Professor of Archaeology, The University of QueenslandChris Clarkson, Professor in Archaeology, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1203492019-07-16T03:25:52Z2019-07-16T03:25:52ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: Megan Davis on a First Nations Voice in the Constitution<p>Last week on this podcast <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-ken-wyatt-on-constitutional-recognition-for-indigenous-australians-120167">we talked to Ken Wyatt</a> about the government’s plan for a referendum – hopefully this parliamentary term – to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution. </p>
<p>This week, we continue the conversation on Indigenous recognition with Megan Davis, a law professor and expert member of a key United Nations Indigenous rights body on the debate about an <a href="https://www.referendumcouncil.org.au/discussion-topics/indigenous-voice.html">Indigenous ‘Voice’</a> which has followed Ken Wyatt’s announcement. </p>
<p>“At this point the only viable option for constitutional reform is this proposal for a Voice to parliament,” says Megan Davis.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Uluru Statement from the Heart is significant because it’s the first time an Australian government has gone out to community and said to them what does recognition mean to you in the Australian Constitution? And their answer was we want a better say in the laws and policies that affect our lives. </p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>The very key point here is the symbolic elements of recognition were completely unanimously rejected. So there was a very strong view that this needed to be practical reconciliation – that Aboriginal people were over symbolism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Megan Davis is currently in Geneva for a meeting of the UN body she sits on, where she says this issue will be raised among other issues which Australian Indigenous people face. </p>
<p>Australia’s reputation on the international stage has had a number of issues such as “incarceration[…]the conditions of young people in youth detention[…][and] the numbers of child removals”. </p>
<h2>New to podcasts?</h2>
<p>Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click <a href="http://pca.st/BVa3#t=3m34s">here</a> to listen to Politics with Michelle Grattan on Pocket Casts).</p>
<p>You can also hear it on Stitcher, Spotify or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Politics with Michelle Grattan.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/politics-with-michelle-grattan/id703425900?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL2F1L3BvZGNhc3RzL3BvbGl0aWNzLXdpdGgtbWljaGVsbGUtZ3JhdHRhbi5yc3M"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation-4/politics-with-michelle-grattan"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Politics-with-Michelle-Grattan-p227852/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://radiopublic.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-WRElBZ"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5NkaSQoUERalaLBQAqUOcC"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237984/original/file-20180925-149976-1ks72uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" width="268" height="82"></a> </p>
<h2>Additional audio</h2>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/The_Big_Loop_-_FML_original_podcast_score/Lee_Rosevere_-_The_Big_Loop_-_FML_original_podcast_score_-_10_A_List_of_Ways_to_Die">A List of Ways to Die</a>, Lee Rosevere, from Free Music Archive.</p>
<p><strong>Image:</strong></p>
<p>RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/AAP</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Megan Davis says the idea of including an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution is being rejected on an understanding that "simply isn't true" but believes Australia has the "capacity to correct this".Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1200702019-07-11T03:35:17Z2019-07-11T03:35:17ZHow to improve health outcomes for Indigenous peoples by making space for self-determination<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283441/original/file-20190710-44457-pq39f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C252%2C6200%2C3460&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Treaty of Waitangi obliges the state to ensure that public policy is as effective for Māori as it is for everybody else. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indigenous public policy fails consistently. The research <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/indigeneity-a-politics-of-potential">evidence is compelling</a>. Across post-settler colonial societies like New Zealand, Australia and Canada, schooling is not as effective for Indigenous citizens, employment and housing outcomes are not as good, and health outcomes are worse.</p>
<p>In Canada, the government says the solution lies in stronger <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/08/trudeau-commits-to-nation-to-nation-relationship-with-first-nations.html">nation-to-nation relationships between the state and First Nations</a>. In Australia, the federal government proposes stronger consultation to “<a href="https://www.coag.gov.au/sites/default/files/communique/coag-statement-closing-the-gap-refresh.pdf">close the gaps in Indigenous disadvantage</a>”. </p>
<p>In New Zealand, the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/files/documents/treaty-kawharu-footnotes.pdf">Treaty of Waitangi</a> is broadly accepted as an agreement offering solutions to policy failure. It protects the Māori right to self-determination and obliges the state to ensure that public policy is as effective for Māori as it is for everybody else. </p>
<p>Last week, the <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/">Waitangi Tribunal</a> affirmed both these general principles in respect to health policy, but in its comprehensive <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/inquiries/kaupapa-inquiries/health-services-and-outcomes-inquiry/#simpson">report</a> on the primary health care system, it found that despite clear intentions, the state fails to deliver good outcomes for Māori. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-alleged-as-indigenous-children-taken-from-families-even-though-state-care-often-fails-them-116984">Racism alleged as Indigenous children taken from families – even though state care often fails them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Lack of self-determination</h2>
<p>In effect, the tribunal found the state fails because it does not stand aside to allow Māori self-determination to prevail. Self-determination is a right that belongs to everybody. Under the United Nations’ <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>, which New Zealand accepts as an “aspirational” document, self-determination means that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular, Indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing and determining health, housing and other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programmes through their own institutions (Article 23).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Under the Treaty of Waitangi the right to self-determination may be expressed in at least two ways. Firstly, the treaty affirms Māori rangatiratanga, or chiefly authority over their own affairs. Secondly, it gives Māori the “rights and privileges of British subjects”. </p>
<p>The latter was a relatively meaningless status in 1840, when the treaty was signed by representatives of the Crown and Māori tribes. But in 2019, citizenship has replaced subjecthood as a substantive body of political rights and capacities for many New Zealanders, though not always for Māori.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Proposal for Māori health authority</h2>
<p>The tribunal’s <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/inquiries/kaupapa-inquiries/health-services-and-outcomes-inquiry/#simpson">Health Services and Outcomes Inquiry report</a> is explicit. Poor Māori health persists because health policy doesn’t honour the treaty. Solutions, it says, lie in the treaty partnership between Māori and the Crown. </p>
<p>The idea of a treaty partnership is <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Beyond_Biculturalism.html?id=XFMTMq0pNyUC&redir_esc=y">well established in New Zealand policy</a>. But the tribunal report reinforces the idea that it is an unequal partnership, with the Crown acting as a senior party and crowding out space for Māori policy leadership. On the other hand, it makes at least two potentially transformative recommendations.</p>
<p>The first is that the Crown and Māori claimants in health care agree on a methodology for assessing underfunding of Māori health providers. The tribunal found that underfunding is in breach of the treaty and one of the variables that explains poor Māori health outcomes. </p>
<p>Secondly, the tribunal recommended the Crown and claimants “explore the possibility of a <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/inquiries/kaupapa-inquiries/health-services-and-outcomes-inquiry/#simpson">standalone Māori health authority</a>”. This authority could become the principal funder of primary health services for Māori citizens. Māori health providers would make bids for contestable funding to the authority which, unlike District Health Boards, would have a predominantly Māori membership. </p>
<p>The authority would assess self-defined Māori health needs against established Māori cultural values. It could also have the capacity to commission research and contribute to national policy debate. </p>
<h2>Māori at centre of policy decisions</h2>
<p>This parallels a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0809/09rp24">recommendation made to Kevin Rudd’s government</a> in Australia in 2009 by a National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Services would be purchased from Aboriginal community controlled health services, mainstream primary health care services and hospitals, and other services. The authority would ensure that all purchased services meet set criteria including clinical standards, cultural appropriateness, appropriately trained workforce, data collection and performance reporting against identified targets such as the national Indigenous health equality targets.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The proposal’s rejection was never fully explained. But it remains instructive to New Zealand as a way of making Māori policy work through self-determination.</p>
<p>Independent Māori decisions about which health programmes to fund, and from which providers, potentially brings Māori people and values to the centre of the policy process. It means that Māori people are not the subjects of state policy. They become its agents, exercising meaningful citizenship and the right to take responsibility for their own affairs. The concept of Māori as junior partners to the Crown is replaced by decision making authority.</p>
<p>An independent funding agency could also strengthen democratic accountability to Māori people who would not need to wait for an invitation to join the policy process, but would be at its centre. Liberal democracies exclude Indigenous people and perspectives as a way of protecting majority interests. But as the <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/inquiries/kaupapa-inquiries/health-services-and-outcomes-inquiry/#simpson">tribunal found</a>, exclusion can explain why policy fails. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Indigenous Australians have proposed a constitutionally enshrined “<a href="https://www.referendumcouncil.org.au/sites/default/files/2017-05/Uluru_Statement_From_The_Heart_0.PDF">voice</a>” to parliament, a truth telling commission and treaties between Indigenous nations and the state to acknowledge enduring Indigenous sovereignty. Victoria and the Northern Territory have started the process of <a href="https://dcm.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/513702/treaty-nt-factsheet-1.pdf">treaty negotiation</a>, but last year, a new government in South Australia “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/30/south-australia-halts-indigenous-treaty-talks-as-premier-says-he-has-other-priorities">paused</a>” the negotiations begun by its predecessor. It didn’t think that treaties could contribute to better lives for Indigenous people.</p>
<p>In Zealand, the treaty is not a panacea for better lives for Māori. But in 2019, it remains as the Māori government minister, Sir Apirana Ngata, <a href="http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NgaTrea-t1-g1-t1.html">put it in 1922</a>. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[It] is widely discussed on all marae. It is on the lips of the humble and the great, of the ignorant and of the thoughtful. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ultimately, the treaty’s transformative capacity depends on how it is interpreted, especially whether self-determination is allowed to trump partnership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A report on primary health care found New Zealand fails to deliver good outcomes for Māori because the state does not stand aside to allow Māori to take charge of their own affairs.Dominic O'Sullivan, Associate Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1186872019-06-12T20:17:30Z2019-06-12T20:17:30ZExplainer: our copyright laws and the Australian Aboriginal flag<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279061/original/file-20190612-32331-76m6jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Indigenous flag flies above Victorian Parliament in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tracey Nearmy/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reports that <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/free-the-flag-aboriginal-businesses-told-not-to-use-aboriginal-flag-over-copyright-20190611-p51wkn.html">two Aboriginal-owned businesses</a> and the AFL have received <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/11/company-that-holds-aboriginal-flag-rights-part-owned-by-man-prosecuted-for-selling-fake-art">cease and desist warnings over their use of the Aboriginal flag on clothing</a> have left many Australians surprised and confused. </p>
<p>A company called WAM Clothing, not owned by Indigenous Australians, currently has exclusive rights to use the flag on clothing. It has issued cease and desist notices to companies including the AFL (which uses the flag on club jerseys for its Indigenous round) and Spark Health, an Indigenous social enterprise. The latter has launched an <a href="https://www.change.org/p/australia-change-the-licencing-agreement-around-the-aboriginal-flag-pridenotprofit">online petition</a> calling for the copyright arrangements to be changed.</p>
<p>While there is no need for anyone to get permission to use the Australian flag, so long as they abide by the <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/australian-national-flag/australian-national-flag-protocols">guidelines</a> respecting its use, this is not the case for the Aboriginal flag. </p>
<p>The reason is that the Aboriginal flag is a copyright work owned by the artist who created it over 40 years ago – Luritja man <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Thomas_(activist)">Harold Thomas</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279076/original/file-20190612-32347-16v8hap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harold Thomas photographed in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fiona Morrison/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thomas created the flag for a national Indigenous day in <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2016/07/12/man-behind-our-famous-flag">July 1971</a>, and this is not the first time his flag has been embroiled in copyright controversy. </p>
<p>When it was adopted as the flag of the Aboriginal people of Australia by proclamation of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2008L00209/Explanatory%20Statement/Text">the Governor-General on July 14, 1995</a>, several other claimants came forward asserting that they were the artist behind it. Thomas was successful in establishing his claim to authorship <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/aboriginal-flag">before the Federal Court in 1997</a>. </p>
<p>As the creator of the flag, Thomas is its owner and can grant licences to other parties to make copies of the flag, or indeed refuse its use altogether.</p>
<p>Under Australian law, his copyright will last for 70 years after his death, and can be claimed by his heirs or anyone else to whom he might choose to assign it. Thomas can assert his rights against anyone making any copy of the flag, even if they are not selling it or using it commercially – this could even include bringing an action against someone with a tattoo of the flag.</p>
<p>Following the Federal Court decision in 1997, Thomas granted a licence to a company called Flags 2000, giving that company the right to reproduce and manufacture the flag. In 2003, Flags 2000 and Thomas brought <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2003/1067.html">a successful action</a> against a man named Mr Smith, who had made and sold copies of the flag without permission.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-classics-of-indigenous-design-99672">Ten classics of Indigenous design</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Copyright and Aboriginal art</h2>
<p>Today, the licence to use the flag on items of clothing is held by WAM Clothing. This was granted by Thomas in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/11/company-that-holds-aboriginal-flag-rights-part-owned-by-man-prosecuted-for-selling-fake-art">October 2018</a>.</p>
<p>One of the owners of WAM Clothing, Ben Wooster, is also the director of a company called Birubi Art. Last year, the <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/court-finds-that-birubi-art-misled-consumers-over-fake-indigenous-australian-art">Australian Competition and Consumer Commission</a> brought legal proceedings against Birubi for its production and sales of boomerang and other souvenir products featuring visual images and symbols of Aboriginal art, all of which were produced by artisans in Indonesia. </p>
<p>The Federal Court <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2018/1595.html">found</a> that by representing these works as hand painted or made by Aboriginal Australians, Birubi had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct. A hearing on the penalties and orders against the company <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/11/company-that-holds-aboriginal-flag-rights-part-owned-by-man-prosecuted-for-selling-fake-art">will be held this Friday</a>, but it is already <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/free-the-flag-aboriginal-businesses-told-not-to-use-aboriginal-flag-over-copyright-20190611-p51wkn.html">in liquidation</a>, which could limit the impact of any orders.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279077/original/file-20190612-32321-2qv0wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A goal umpire uses Aboriginal flags to signal a goal during a football match in Alice Springs in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Indigenous_Affairs/The_growing_presence_of_inauthentic_Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strait_Islander_style_art_and_craft">report</a> of the Australian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs identified the harms caused to Indigenous peoples and communities by inauthentic souvenirs and crafts with no connection to the Aboriginal peoples whose stories, histories and culture they depict.</p>
<p>Together, these issues highlight the difficulties faced by Aboriginal artists in this field. Many people still erroneously believe that traditional styles of painting are not capable of being owned under copyright law. A number of Aboriginal artists have resorted to litigation to prevent use of their designs on an array of commercial products, from currency to <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLawJl/1995/15.pdf">carpets</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dollar-dave-and-the-reserve-bank-a-tale-of-art-theft-and-human-rights-56593">'Dollar Dave' and the Reserve Bank: a tale of art, theft and human rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What about the petition?</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/australia-change-the-licencing-agreement-around-the-aboriginal-flag-pridenotprofit">change.org petition</a> started by Spark Health, whose brand Clothing the Gap raises money for Aboriginal health, states: “This is not a question of who owns copyright of the Flag. This is a question of control.” </p>
<p>However, the two cannot be separated: it is the owner of the copyright who has control over how a work may be used. </p>
<p>As copyright owner, Thomas has the right to grant licences to whomever he pleases, whether Indigenous or not. </p>
<p>A former head of the Australian Copyright Council Fiona Phillips has said there could be an argument <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/12/government-could-buy-aboriginal-flag-copyright-to-settle-dispute-lawyer-says">for the Government to buy back the copyright licence</a> from Thomas. But could this work?</p>
<p>Asking the government to intervene in this way could be seen as yet another appropriation of Aboriginal property rights – in this case, the rights of an artist to maintain ownership of his work.</p>
<p>At the same time, enforcing copyright of such a powerful and well-loved symbol against those seeking to use it to express their cultural identity, solidarity or sympathy, or for charitable causes, gives rise to justifiable resentment. </p>
<p>The symbolism of the flag, expressed by Thomas in the original 1997 court case, is worth remembering here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I wanted to make it unsettling. In normal circumstances you’d have the darker colour at the bottom and the lighter colour on top and that would be visibly appropriate for anybody looking at it. It wouldn’t unsettle you. To give a shock to the viewer to have it on top had a dual purpose, was to unsettle … The other factor why I had it on top was the Aboriginal people walk on top of the land. (Thomas v Brown (1997) 37 IPR 207, 214.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Following recent recommendations for reform from the <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/copyright-report-122">Australian Law Reform Commission</a> and the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/intellectual-property#report">Productivity Commission</a>, it could be that this case gives impetus for the government to explore ways to make copyright fairer for both artists and users.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabella Alexander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the flag’s copyright owner, Luritja artist Harold Thomas has the right to grant licences to whomever he pleases. Asking the government to buy back his copyright licence could be seen as an appropriation of Aboriginal property rights.Isabella Alexander, Professor of Law, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1172462019-06-04T20:07:12Z2019-06-04T20:07:12ZHow we tracked down the only known sculpture of a WWI Indigenous soldier<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277524/original/file-20190603-69051-1groa64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rupert O’Flynn with Rudolf Marcuse’s bronze bust of Douglas Grant, December 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph courtesy Tom Murray. </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Germany, 1918. Wünsdorf prisoner-of-war camp, not far from Berlin. An Australian Indigenous POW, Douglas Grant, sits as a model for a portrait bust by a German Jewish sculptor, Rudolf Marcuse.</p>
<p>The completed work is remarkable and of national significance. As Aaron Pegram, senior historian at the Australian War Memorial, recently explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is the only known sculpture of an Indigenous member of the Australian Imperial Force made during the First World War.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But the whereabouts of the bust has remained a mystery for decades - until now. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277536/original/file-20190603-69091-10301ud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photograph of Douglas Grant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A few tantalising details of the sculpture were on the public record. An entry in The <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/grant-douglas-6454">Australian Dictionary of Biography</a>, for instance, states that Grant “became an object of curiosity to German doctors, scientists and anthropologists” and that Marcuse, who was sent to the camp to sculpt portraits of inmates, modelled Grant’s bust “in ebony”. Other biographies have mentioned a bronze or marble bust. But no-one seemed to know where it was - indeed, some questioned whether it existed at all. </p>
<p>After years spent searching European archives and contacting museums and art dealers, we have now <a href="https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02757206.2019.1607730">found the bust</a> in a small village in rural Wiltshire, England. </p>
<p>It belongs to a retired accountant, Rupert O'Flynn, who keeps it on a plinth in his sitting room and was delighted to hear of its extraordinary history and significance. Cast in bronze (not carved in ebony or marble as conjectured), it is a good likeness of Grant. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277525/original/file-20190603-69075-1ki92jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sculpture photographed in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Murray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A story of art, war, propaganda and race</h2>
<p>The creation of this sculpture is a story of art, war, propaganda, race, and two individuals forced to flee state violence and oppression. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/douglas-grant:-the-skin-of-others/8742008">Grant’s life</a> is itself remarkable. Born around 1885 in the Australian Indigenous Nations of the tropical Queensland rainforest, he was “rescued” and adopted in 1887 by a Scottish-born couple, Robert and Elizabeth Grant. They later claimed his parents had been killed in a “tribal disturbance”, a commonly used euphemism for massacre at the time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277528/original/file-20190603-69071-17eevkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Douglas Grant with his adoptive family, c. 1896. National Archives of Australia, Canberra, SP1011/1, 2176.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reproduction courtesy NAA.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Raised by his adoptive parents in Sydney, Grant trained and worked as a draughtsman before joining the Australian Imperial Force in 1916. He embarked for Europe the same year as a private with the 13th Battalion. In early 1917, he fought alongside around 6000 Australians in the disastrous <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/the-battles-for-bullecourt">First Battle of Bullecourt</a>. Half of them were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. </p>
<p>Grant was among the 1,170 Australians captured. As Pegram puts it, they were</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the largest loss of Australians as prisoners of war in a single action until the Fall of Singapore in 1942.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277522/original/file-20190603-69091-1eox53v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Master of sculpture, Rudolf Marcuse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reproduction courtesy SMB-ZA.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/cm/periodical/titleinfo/2599296">Marcuse</a>, meanwhile, was born in 1878 in Berlin. He studied at the city’s Royal Academy of the Arts and his life-size bronzes and decorative statuettes of public figures were well regarded, with Kaiser Wilhelm II and the King of Siam (now Thailand) among his customers. </p>
<p>When war broke out, the director of Berlin’s National Gallery tasked Marcuse with creating busts and statuettes of the “colourful mixture of peoples amongst our enemies”. The plan was to display them in an <a href="http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/4724/1/Pommeranz_das_Reichskriegsmuseum_2016.pdf">Imperial War Museum</a> commemorating Germany’s anticipated victory. Marcuse’s search for “racially genuine types” led him to Wünsdorf, where the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission, an organisation created to record the languages and folk songs of “exotic” POWs, was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-08/aboriginal-anzacs-racial-science-jihad-wunsdorf-pow-camp/8771110">conducting a scientific experiment</a>. </p>
<p>Only a handful of Indigenous Australians were interned in German POW camps. This made Grant <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-history-listen/douglas-grant/10350180">“the prize capture”, according to Roy Kinghorn</a>, an AIF colleague and friend from the Australian Museum. Brought up by white foster parents and with only a bookish knowledge of Aboriginal culture, he was, in fact, a disappointment to the cultural anthropologists. But evidently not to Marcuse. </p>
<p>Sadly, neither man wrote in detail about their meeting, but Marcuse’s lively descriptions of other POWs he sculpted show that he was interested in his models as individuals with unique life stories.</p>
<h2>Tracking down the bust</h2>
<p>The whereabouts of Marcuse’s bust of Grant had been unknown for decades, until we found <a href="http://objekte.jmberlin.de/object/jmb-obj-185631">a published photograph</a> of it on the website of the <a href="https://www.jmberlin.de/">Jewish Museum in Berlin</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277527/original/file-20190603-69059-vaeggw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Aboriginal Australian.’ Photogravure on paperboard. Marcuse (1919a, n.p.).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reproduction courtesy Jüdisches Museum Berlin.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The museum has digitised large parts of its collections in recent years, including a <a href="http://objekte.jmberlin.de/object/jmb-obj-260737">portfolio of photographs</a> of Marcuse’s busts and statuettes, published in 1919 under the title “Ethnic Types from the World War”. In this context, the bust of Grant was anonymously described as “Australian Aborigine” and sandwiched between a “Siberian” and a “Somali”. </p>
<p>We then tracked the bust from one art and antiques dealer to the next. Finally, we found a British dealer who remembered a “Negro” sculpture similar to the one in our photograph, and the name of the man who had bought it.</p>
<p>O'Flynn had bought the sculpture from the London Olympia Art & Antiques Fair a few years before we met him in 2016. He was thrilled to hear its story. “It has got a presence to it and it is big and bold,” he told us. “It’s just the sort of thing I like and it has a reality to it – it’s fantastic!” </p>
<p>He also mused on the strange journey this sculpture - a German bronze of an Aboriginal man - had taken. “It’s just bizarre for it to end up with me.”</p>
<h2>Of national significance</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Douglas Grant with the ornamental pond and replica Sydney Harbour Bridge that he designed and built with colleagues at Callan Park in 1931.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of NSW.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both Grant and Marcuse struggled to find a niche in later life. Grant returned to Sydney, was a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2018/feb/27/when-douglas-grant-met-henry-lawson-new-light-on-australias-dark-story">confidant to Henry Lawson</a>, and <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220716433?searchTerm=sunday%20telegraph%20douglas%20grant&searchLimits=">campaigned for the rights of Indigenous Australians</a>. But it was a prejudiced era and he had difficulty finding permanent work. He spent most of the 1930s in a “hospital for the insane” and died in 1951, aged about 66. </p>
<p>Marcuse fled Nazi Germany for England in 1936. He had applied to join the British war effort as a freelance artist when he died in Middlesex Hospital in 1940, aged 62.</p>
<p>This sculpture is a unique record of their meeting. Given its national importance, we hope that one day it will find its way back to an Australian institution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Murray receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilary Howes receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>In 1918, in Wünsdorf prisoner-of-war camp, a German sculptor created a bust of Indigenous soldier Douglas Grant. For decades, the whereabouts of this nationally significant sculpture were unknown - until now.Tom Murray, Senior Lecturer and former ARC DECRA Fellow in Screen Media, Macquarie UniversityHilary Howes, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.