Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Who me … an Aborigine?

By Stephen Hagan - posted Thursday, 8 December 2005


The suited driver in the white Mercedes is heading to the domestic airport with time to spare. His passenger requests, “Drive me to Redfern, I have the street address here”.

Arriving at the destination, the driver remarks, “This isn’t the best part of town, Sam. I’ll come with you”.

Sam, reassuring him, replies, “It’s all right, I’ll be okay. Wait here, I’ll be back soon”.

Advertisement

It’s cold and the apartment dweller, dressed in her pink dressing gown, layers of jumpers underneath, grey hair bound in rollers, opens the door, shocked and surprised to see standing before her the swimmer, Sam Riley. A momentary awkwardness as they both reach for their voices. Smiling, Pat asks, “Hello, aren’t you Sam?”

Sam smiles and nods and without hesitation in one breath fires off the beginning. ”My mother was adopted and I’m Ronnie’s granddaughter. We’ve just found out that Ronnie was my mum’s mother, that’s why I’m here. Can you tell me anything about Ronnie?

Long before Samantha’s mother sought an explanation about her heritage, many Aboriginal people silently claimed Sam, during her distinguished career, as one of theirs, because she had all the attractive physical features and idiosyncrasies of an Aboriginal.

Diplomat Gordon Matthews adds yet another dimension to this complex debate about identity. Gordon, a former colleague of mine at the Department of Foreign Affairs in the 1980s, thought he was Aboriginal until he met his father in Iowa, United States, as he recounts in Gordon Matthews, An Australian Son:

I thought about what it meant to know that my father was Sri Lankan. Having believed that I was Aboriginal, it felt disappointing and anti-climatic to acquire a racial background that I had never anticipated. There was no sense of excitement or completion. Before arriving at the belief I was Aboriginal, of the nationalities I had considered I could be, Sri Lankan had figured but only marginally and suggested by others on a mere handful of occasions.

Emotionally part of me was still definitely Aboriginal. Although I was now Gordon Matthews, Sri Lankan adoptee, my connection with Aboriginal Australia continued and wouldn’t suddenly wither and die. Aboriginality was something of which I had been aware virtually as far back as my memory stretched. I had experienced first-hand what it felt like to grow up Aboriginal in mainstream Australia, albeit on distinct and unusual terms. I had suffered that. Like any fundamental experience, you don’t unlearn that.

Advertisement

The ABS statistics reveal that between 1996 and 2001 the total Australian population increased 6 per cent while the number of people counted as Indigenous in the census (460,140) increased by 16 per cent. Of the 16 per cent rise in the Indigenous population, 12 per cent was due to natural increase (i.e. births and deaths) and a further 4 per cent due to other factors, primarily an increasing propensity to identify as Indigenous.

This new 4 per cent that now identify as Indigenous are, in some quarters, unfavourably referred to as “Johnny Come Latelys” (JCLs). The objectors say the JCLs are taking over Indigenous-specific scholarships at universities as well as jobs in the public and private sector. These objectors add that many JCLs are gaining preference over them in interviews, as they present a more pleasing and conservative look to biased interviewers, because they have more refined European features.

Their central argument is that the JCLs didn’t want anything to do with their local Indigenous communities when they were growing up. On the flipside, many fair-skinned Aborigines who have always identified with their communities continue to have problems being accepted by some of their own people.

Picking an Aboriginal today can indeed be a difficult task.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

Article edited by Ro Mueller.
If you'd like to be a volunteer editor too, click here.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

14 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Stephen Hagan is Editor of the National Indigenous Times, award winning author, film maker and 2006 NAIDOC Person of the Year.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Stephen Hagan

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Stephen Hagan
Article Tools
Comment 14 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy