Indigenous Affairs: Displacement and integration

With no way of measuring time and with his physical environment so unchanging, the Aborigine before 1788 was intensely aware of his existence in the here and now. The earth under his feet, the breeze and the sun on his skin, the movement and sound of leaves in the wind, the insects running up a tree - his environment was alive as what he was. Everything in it seemed to speak to him. I envy those who lived such a life.

But, as every bushwalker has discovered, when there are prolonged droughts in this land, the water holes dry up and, after that, all water in the creeks cease to flow. The Aborigines had no way of storing water in such times. They lived a precarious existence. So, is it so bad that, after the ‘invasion’, an Aborigine can turn on a tap 365 days a year rather than dying horribly of dehydration?

In a world where displacement of both animal and man is natural, for one race of people to be left alone for 40,000 years is a world record. In every corner of the globe, when high-tech arrived, it displaced low-tech. It is time for our Indigenous people to accept that they have had more than their fair share of isolation. It is time to fully integrate.

Integration is made harder when theatrics get in the way

The apology on 12 February 2008 has done nothing to change the situation Aborigines are in. The bigger picture people predicted that outcome. By now we should all realise that Sorry Day was just theatrics for those who had a desire to perform on a stage. The referendum promised by the Gillard government to include indigenous rights in the constitution will be just more theatre.

Almost every speech I have sat-in on recently has opened with the line: “First, I must pay my respects to the original owners of the land upon which we stand”.  Some would say that the few words of acknowledgement are not much - but they are better than nothing. They are worse than nothing because they add yet another obstacle to integration.