2 July 2020 Photo Black Lives Matter Rally Melbourne. Matt Hrkac 2020. Flickr cc. When I heard the news of the George Floyd’s killing, I was really sad, but not the least surprised. Now, I am actually hopeful that something will be done to stop the ingrained racism in this country. Most Australians are still […]
Thalia Anthony University of Technology Sydney. Stephen Gray Monash University. Photo In 1891 a ‘Slave Map of Modern Australia’ was printed in the British Anti-Slavery Reporter. Author provided. Prime Minister Scott Morrison asserted in a radio interview that “there was no slavery in Australia”. This is a common misunderstanding which often obscures our nation’s history of […]
7 May 2020. Pope Francis’s response to the Amazon Synod carries a message for Australia concerning our Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples, since Francis sees Indigenous people as very important in teaching us how to love and care for our common home. I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of […]
Bruce Duncan Posted 10 March 2020 Many parts of Pope Francis’s response to the recent Amazon Synod could have been written for Australia, especially about European colonisation of the New World, the destruction of indigenous peoples and their cultures, the appropriation of their lands and the despoliation of natural resources. Francis urges renewed efforts to […]
Eddie Synot UNSW. Many will feel a sense of déjà vu when reading the minister for Indigenous Australians’ announcement of a co-design process for a ‘voice to government’. This is yet another process in the long journey of Indigenous people to set things right and for our voices to be heard. Ken Wyatt’s announcement states […]
Susan Connelly. A great deal is being written about the violence and deaths in Papua and West Papua, the two provinces of Indonesia which occupy the western half of the island of New Guinea. But what is being done about it? The confusion of names in this region exacerbates the problem. West Irian, Irian Jaya, […]
Dan Yore. I am sitting next to Nuŋki, a Gumatj elder, as he looks through a telescope for the first time. We are sitting by the beach near his homeland of Dhaniya in North-East Arnhem Land. He is in awe. The rings of Saturn are exquisite tonight. We have just finished presenting a ‘both-ways’ astronomy […]
Helen Praetz Daffey. Dr Jim Bowler is well known as the scientist who discovered Mungo Lady and Mungo Man, ancient remains buried on the dried-up shores of Lake Mungo in outback New South Wales, subsequently dated at 42,000 years old. Their discovery changed our understanding of how and when Australia was occupied. It also profoundly […]
Peter Whiting. Until recently, for the last 20 years or so, I have celebrated Australia Day at my home with a group of my friends. As part of the entertainment, I would compile a short quiz on a particular Australian theme: bushrangers, prime ministers, Australian poets, prominent Australians, place names, and so on. Intentionally, I […]
Michael Breen University of Melbourne After years of debate, the process for achieving constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians has reached a crossroads. More than a year has gone by since the Uluru Statement from the Heart, when Indigenous peoples rejected symbolic constitutional reform and asked for more practical changes. Instead of looking at selected components of […]
Henry Reynolds University of Tasmania US slave owners wrote and spoke about liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness. Similar hypocrisy, buried in the foundations of settler Australia, has escaped comparable scrutiny. The nature of the early settlements is so well known that it is frequently taken for granted. But for the first 50 years […]
