Archives November 2015

Ghillar Michael Anderson exposes the consequences of the insidious nature of colonial social engineering which used the 'dog tag' to divide against First Nations. People issued the 'dog tag' or 'exemption certificate' were 'exempted' from being Aboriginal and partially accepted into the colonial society on its terms, namely they were not allowed to associate with their own kind, known as the 'grassroots communities'.

Ballarat indigenous artist Aunty Marlene's depiction of the 1842 hanging. Photo: City of Melbourne

Clare Rawlinson ABC 27 November 2015

A swing set reminiscent of the gallows where two Indigenous men were hanged in 1842 will be erected as a memorial to colonial conflict in Melbourne.

The number of doctors working in Western Australia's First Nations Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) will be reduced from 56 to 19 under a policy proposed by the Federal Government, according to the Aboriginal Health Council of WA.

"We currently have 56 doctors working in our sector. With this decision that will severely reduce that back to 19 doctors," the council's chairwoman Michelle Nelson-Cox told ABC Kimberley.

Letters by Noongar people pleading for the return of their stolen children or requesting access to the old age pension after a lifetime's work will come together in a new project aimed at uncovering a hidden side of Indigenous history.

Curtin University researchers are set to collate letters from state archives and correspondence held by families across Western Australia, dating from the 1860s to the 1960s.

A main shortcoming of all the social experiments promoted and funded under the motto of "self determination" are implemented rather paternalistically, basically rules which inhibit a person's ability to make choices and suffer subsequent consequences. His paternalistic policy ignores people's right to fail, which is one of the key steps in achieving growth and capability, hence it truly ignores people's right to succeed as well ... the Welfare Reform Triials are fundamentally flawed as remote townships find it extremely almost impossible to venture into any meaningful economic opportunities given the constraints of land tenure and blanket conservation.

Two film makers are exploring the vital role Aboriginal transport played in the Victorian economy. Seeing the Land from an Aboriginal Canoe is a documentary film which explores the significant contribution of the stringybark canoe. The filmmakers were inspired by historian, Dr David 'Fred' Cahir, who specialises in forgotten Indigenous history. They were particularly drawn to his research into the stringybark canoe and its role in Victoria's waterways. In the film, Dr Cahir said most Aboriginal history was about violence and massacres, and not the Aboriginal contribution.

Earlier this year South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced that a royal commission would be held to consider the feasibility and viability as well as the risks and opportunities associated with four areas of the nuclear fuel cycle, including storage of radioactive waste.

Kevin Buzzacott, an Arabunna Elder puts it this way: 'If we look after this old country, the country will look after us ... How could I cut off my knee or part of my knee? I won't work without parts of me. Same for country.

Apartheid and genocide are utterly evil, whether Israel’s ongoing Palestinian Genocide or Aboriginal Genocide in Australia. There is an ongoing Aboriginal Genocide and Aboriginal Ethnocide that demands international action against a pro-war, pro-Zionist, US lackey, human rights-abusing Apartheid Australia. There are huge differentials between First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous Australians in relation to life expectancy, health, wealth, employment and educational attainment. The so-called “Closing the Gap” has a long way to go in one of the richest countries in the world.

Archaeologists and Aboriginal elders are hoping the most comprehensive study of rock art in the Kimberley region will confirm the images are among the oldest made by humans anywhere in the world. More than a dozen scientists took part in two field trips to study remote faces on Dambimangari and Balanggarra country. They used pioneering techniques to collect and analyse hundreds of samples to narrow down the timeframes in which the striking images of people, animals and shells were made. Professor Peter Veth, from the University of Western Australia, said they were expecting to have the first results through by the end of the year.