Culture

Sydney's current city is probably the largest urban system ever built from, and upon, an existing city framework and it was built in an unholy silence. - What if our present historical city was not the first urban structure to occupy the coastal region extending from Port Stephens to Kiama? What would this primordial city reveal, what lessons of history could we learn; just what of this first, pre-invasion Sydney was admitted, and what was denied in the making of our second metropolis?

Penny Bidd, 52, from the Kimberley says the only hope for the five children her daughter left behind, who are now in her care, is to escape even further into the bush, to her homeland on the remote Charnley River Station. She's not the only one, many First Nations people in Western Australia are opting to live "on country" in remote settlements. They see that as the safest and healthiest way of beating grog, drugs and violence, both physical and sexual, that stalks the townships. However, Premier, Colin Barnett has placed a cloud over the viability of the communities.

For over two centuries, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia have had to endure brutal agression against their societies. Every year on Australia Day, Australians celebrate the arrival of the First British Fleet, on 26 January 1788, on the coast of Eora Country. But today, the first peoples of Australia still call it « Invasion Day ». This difference in perceptions bears witness to the political and cultural gap which separates Aboriginal people from other Australians.

The Barnett govt's power to remove Aboriginal sites from the state's heritage register has been thrown into doubt by a landmark test case handed down in the Supreme Court. The court has quashed a decision by the WA Liberal government’s powerful Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee to de-register the land and sea surrounding the iron ore export hub of Port Hedland as an Aboriginal sacred site, in a test case that creates uncertainty about the toughening stance on sacred sites.

In the announcement made in recent days, Aboriginal communities in South Australia have suffered a 90 per cent cut to their funding. APY Lands – including Amata, Pukatja (Ernabella), Indulkana – have received no funding at all. These include big settlements as well as smaller communities and homelands. There is no funding for the Maralinga Lands. WA has accepted a one off $90 million for their 'transfer' grant and consequently announced 150 communities would be closed down. This has received much publicity, and the South Australian situation is much less known.

The Supreme Court has quashed a decision by a WA Government committee to deregister a Port Hedland Aboriginal sacred site, in a test case that opens the door to a class action by traditional owners ... "I conclude that the committee did not give consideration to the question of whether or not the Marapikurrinya Yintha was a place of importance or special significance because the question did not arise for consideration in light of the conclusion that it was not a sacred site," Justice Chaney said in his judgement.

The NT gov't has just granted permission to frack significant parcels of 'Country', including the iconic Bitter Springs region and surrounding Elsey Station, to a subsidiary of billionaire resources giant Gina Rinehart, Jacaranda Minerals. The deal comes at a time when the NT govt's recent Hawke Inquiry into the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' confirmed that effective laws and regulations governing the shale gas industry were not yet in place, but it continues the granting licenses.

There has been evidence that the First peoples were on this continent 60,000 years ago, but the work of Dr Peter Kershaw's palynology (the study of fossil pollen) research suggests that the first peoples were on the continent as long ago as 80,000 years earlier than that.
When specks of prehistoric pollen and charcoal embedded in the ocean floor off the Great Barrier Reef were analyzed it was discovered an abrupt change in the fossil pollen was recorded around 140,000 years ago.

A comprehensive Timeline for the history of First Nations people in Tasmania. Also incded are some copies of John Glover's landscape paintings, including the Last Muster of Tasmanian Aborigines at Risdon. This painting tells the story of the last group of innocent Tasmanian Aborigines that remains in the Risdon Area before they were deported to Flinders Island. Glover thought the Tasmanian Aborigines would be extinct by that period of time, and when he died in 1849, there were only about 40 Tasmanian Aborigines still alive.

A group of Indigenous campers on Heirisson Island say the self-declared refugee camp is “for all homeless and displaced person” and not a protest. The camp has been running since Sunday, with a sign declaring the area “Private property of the Djurin Republic”. The group are reportedly also protesting the proposed closure of remote communities in the State’s north. “This is a refugee camp, and it’s dry and peaceful,” one camper Willow said. “It’s for all homeless and displaced persons, we are not protesting or declaring war.