Something I'm proud of establishing recently is the annual Terra Nullius Breakfast in my home town, utilising shame as a creative force to actuate a new story – that is, being in attendance collectively to acknowledge the grief and trauma caused by this simple Latin legal signifier, which continues to swim in its violent semiotic across the continent.
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| Terra Nullius Breakfast, Daylesford. January 26, 2019 |
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| Terra Nullius Breakfast, Daylesford. January 26, 2018 |
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| Terra Nullius Breakfast, Daylesford. January 26, 2017 |
Across the nation-state of Australia today, across all the terra never ceded that constitutes this nation, Australian schools continue to obscure the historical fact of terra nullius.
4 comments:
Hi Patrick,
Good on you for establishing this event.
Would you be able to say a little more about how 'Australian schools continue to obscure the historical fact of terra nullius'? In what way(s) is it obscured? If you've written or spoken about this elsewhere, feel free to just point me in the right direction. :-)
Cheers,
Stu
Hello Stu, I'm basing my comments on the politicisation of the education system by both state and federal governments over the decades. However, I recognise there are individual teachers working in schools, who are committed to teaching Terra Nullius history, albeit it the exception. I left secondary school in the late 1980s completely ignorant of the local First Nations people of my area, let alone the bogus legal term that enabled the colony to root. While I accept things have improved since my schooling, I'm not sure that things have improved all that much. My eldest son raised in class a few years ago the fact of Aboriginal (swidden) agricultures. At the time we had Bruce Pascoe staying with us, and the subject became a point of great interest for Zeph. His teacher dismissed him curtly and went on with the lesson. That this sort of teaching still applies give me reason to suggest there is still such a long way to go. While I accept that this may have been a worst case example and I haven't done substantive research to back my claim, my evidence stems from working with young people, and it appears that Terra Nullius is a foreign concept until I raise it. That is what I'm referring to when I say the history has been 'obscured', which is a polite way of saying, the history has been disappeared. Hope this clarifies.
Thanks, Patrick. I was just curious.
I remember my year 9 history textbook had a chapter on indigenous history, culture, etc. I vaguely remember my teacher talking about Bennelong, and a discussion about whether it was appropriate to use the terms 'Aboriginal' or 'Aborigine'. Like you I left school ignorant of the First Nations people of my area. Not that I blame my history teacher. She was actually very knowledgeable, and quite progressive for the time. In her defence, she had to deal with a class full of ignorant, privileged boys!
Yes, it is not a question of blaming teachers on the ground, although more courage teachers would certainly help. Rather, I think, it is a question of top-down (and politicised) policy making. The 12 long years of the Howard government certainly aided the roll back of investigative histories.
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