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Doesn't Australia have just as long a history as anywhere else though? It seems to me people just aren't all that interested in pre-settlement history. The same

Doesn't Australia have just as long a history as anywhere else though? It seems to me people just aren't all that interested in pre-settlement history. The same goes for a lot of settler-colonial nations.

dkdbejwi383 5y ago
I don’t know if things are better now, but in the early 2000s, the Australian education system barely touched on indigenous history. It was mentioned mostly in the context of the colonial settlers, almost like indigenous people came into being only to play a role in Australia’s colonial history.
- pasabagi 5y ago
  I can see the point though: it's hard to do history about oral traditions, doubly so for oral traditions where most of the people in the tradition have been displaced or killed. Also, politicians tend to see history as a sort of 'national identity' education, and I don't think the dominant political trends in Australia are ready to face this part of the Australian national story, which is cowardly, but it's a very common form of cowardice.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    Spot on, and something that can go unsaid is that even unity is a bitter pill to swallow for the indigenous. There is no saving face for politicians so it remains the elephant in the room. I will say I am glad we are trying though. There is a lot being done, and inclusion of the indigenous history in our cities is a great step. Many things here have been renamed with their old indigenous names, which really drives home the point that it wasn't just barren land prior to settlement.
- ehnto 5y ago
  In my schooling we went on indigenous camps and every year there were workshops at school. We learned directly from them about dream time, walkabouts, weaving and their language, painting and instruments. It was something at least, and pretty special in retrospect. This was in the 90s and 2000s. Land rights are getting better too. The tribes in Nhulunbuy own their land and rent it back to the town and mine site. My father worked boats there and spent a lot of time with the indigenous, it's definitely not all happy stories but again, after what we have done it was never going to be.
ehnto 5y ago
Oh of course, and I am proud to have been raised along side it, but that heritage isn't mine. If anything my limited heritage in Australia decimated their centuries here, that is not something to be proud of.

dkdbejwi383 5y ago

I don’t know if things are better now, but in the early 2000s, the Australian education system barely touched on indigenous history. It was mentioned mostly in the context of the colonial settlers, almost like indigenous people came into being only to play a role in Australia’s colonial history.

pasabagi 5y ago
I can see the point though: it's hard to do history about oral traditions, doubly so for oral traditions where most of the people in the tradition have been displaced or killed. Also, politicians tend to see history as a sort of 'national identity' education, and I don't think the dominant political trends in Australia are ready to face this part of the Australian national story, which is cowardly, but it's a very common form of cowardice.
- ehnto 5y ago
  Spot on, and something that can go unsaid is that even unity is a bitter pill to swallow for the indigenous. There is no saving face for politicians so it remains the elephant in the room. I will say I am glad we are trying though. There is a lot being done, and inclusion of the indigenous history in our cities is a great step. Many things here have been renamed with their old indigenous names, which really drives home the point that it wasn't just barren land prior to settlement.
ehnto 5y ago
In my schooling we went on indigenous camps and every year there were workshops at school. We learned directly from them about dream time, walkabouts, weaving and their language, painting and instruments. It was something at least, and pretty special in retrospect. This was in the 90s and 2000s. Land rights are getting better too. The tribes in Nhulunbuy own their land and rent it back to the town and mine site. My father worked boats there and spent a lot of time with the indigenous, it's definitely not all happy stories but again, after what we have done it was never going to be.

ehnto 5y ago

Oh of course, and I am proud to have been raised along side it, but that heritage isn't mine. If anything my limited heritage in Australia decimated their centuries here, that is not something to be proud of.