Archives October 2014

It takes a unique country to name a century-long former internment camp as its favourite holiday destination. Such a country would either have to be one with rather macabre fascinations or a genuine interest in acknowledging historical injustices as a way of moving towards a better future. Or it could just be Australia.

The hundreds of Aboriginal men buried in unmarked graves probably aren’t an island drawcard for most tourists. [node:read-more:link]

In a submission to the Indigenous Jobs and Training Review, headed by billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, the National Welfare Rights Network has argued many of Forrest’s recommendations would have devastating impacts and do little to improve employment outcomes for Indigenous people.

A central recommendation is the creation of a “Healthy Welfare Card” - article by Max Chalmers, 'New Matilda'. [node:read-more:link]

The Woolwonga were said to have been exterminated in 1884 at Burrundie about 200 kilometres south of Darwin in reprisal for spearing non-Aboriginal miners.

But about four years ago an 1899 census document was found showing at least one had survived. Exactly how the girl known as Jennie survived the massacre of her people - the Woolwonga of the Alligator River near Katherine - is not known. [node:read-more:link]

Unlike Australia where police investigate deaths in custody, Deborah Coles says the UK moved to independent investigations in 2004.

In a tragedy that has again ­invoked the shameful record of black deaths in custody in Western Australia, the Aboriginal woman — about to see a doctor for a suspected leg infection when arrested earlier this month — had begged to be hospitalised instead of kept in jail ... [node:read-more:link]

The Northern Territory's Arnhem Land plateau has thousands of paintings amongst its myriad of rock shelters but a full survey of the exact numbers has not never been carried out.
Experts warn that it is now under threat from wild buffalo, fire and feral animals. The last First Nations clans moved down from the plateau in the 1960s, lured away from their traditional lifestyle by Western missionaries with tobacco, sugar and floor. Now there is no-one left to protect this vast library. [node:read-more:link]

Representatives from Pilbara Aboriginal communities are calling on the Western Australian Government to rethink proposed changes to the Aboriginal Heritage Act.

Around 200 people met on the banks of the Yule River, south of Port Hedland, last Friday, to raise their concerns about a lack of community consultation around planned amendments to section 18 of the legislation. [node:read-more:link]

Around 80 people attended a rally in Alice Springs calling for the removal of a four metre high statue of explorer John McDouall Stuart, the first European to traverse the continent from south to north in 1862.
A letter was also distributed, written by the elders directly to John McDouall Stuart, accusing him of not asking permission to enter the land and of killing Arrernte people. "You came to Mount Hay and you killed our mob," it stated. [node:read-more:link]