White Gain vs. Indigenous Loss (3)
August 13th 2009 00:13
Into the 21st Century and it is hard to conceive how a government could have been so callous and negligent, that is until one realises the full extent of the Terra Nullius doctrine and its partner in crime, the belief that the Aboriginal people were a dying race. This explains why the Aborigines were herded like sheep onto reserves, and then denied adequate resources to sustain self-sufficiency. Why their mixed-blood children were taken from them, or as adults forbidden from entering the reserves. And why government gave in to white settler pressure and sold-off Reserve land (Barwick, 1972, pp.18-66).
What Terra Nullius and social Darwinism don’t explain is ethnocentricity, the belief in racial superiority and outright prejudice against another because their skin is a different colour. If Terra Nullius and dispossession are the foundation of indigenous disadvantage in this country, then racism is the perpetuating force. To illustrate an example of racism and prejudice at work we need only go back as far as the 1950-60s eras and the cattle industry of Queensland, NT, and northern Western Australia.
Both male and female Aboriginal workers were indispensible to the stock and station industry in these areas due to the difficulty in luring white labour to the harsh and inhospitable climate. The men proved to be more than capable in the saddle and their bush skills stood them in good stead when locating herds and strays across the vast expanses, while the women were employed as domestics in and around the homestead. However, as historian Richard Broome elucidates, ‘overall, the European racist myths in the north claimed that Aboriginal workers were lazy and incapable.’ The reality, Broome qualifies, is that ‘the Aborigines were absolutely essential to the pastoral economy because of their skills and acceptance of low wages’ (Broome, 2002, p.130). Not only did the Aboriginal workers accept lower pay, in some cases they were not paid at all. Many were housed in tin shacks, while white stockmen and managers enjoyed the comforts of homestead and quarters. The myth translated into a reality of racial prejudice, and the walls of Indigenous disadvantage were as unassailable as ever.
However, as is the case with most myths they are man-made constructions and are accepted until proven false, which is exactly what a group of West Australian Aborigines did in the 1950s when they started their own mining company. Battling through start-up and cash-flow problems, the Pindan Mob nevertheless went on to purchase a property from mine profits, which they occupy to this day (Broome, 2002, p.143). They proved to be hard-working and capable, but more importantly, when given the chance, able to shape and control their destiny, the essence of self-determination. As stated in Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), the Aboriginal people of Australia have the right to self-determination. However, without land self-determination is just a word. (Cont.)
Both male and female Aboriginal workers were indispensible to the stock and station industry in these areas due to the difficulty in luring white labour to the harsh and inhospitable climate. The men proved to be more than capable in the saddle and their bush skills stood them in good stead when locating herds and strays across the vast expanses, while the women were employed as domestics in and around the homestead. However, as historian Richard Broome elucidates, ‘overall, the European racist myths in the north claimed that Aboriginal workers were lazy and incapable.’ The reality, Broome qualifies, is that ‘the Aborigines were absolutely essential to the pastoral economy because of their skills and acceptance of low wages’ (Broome, 2002, p.130). Not only did the Aboriginal workers accept lower pay, in some cases they were not paid at all. Many were housed in tin shacks, while white stockmen and managers enjoyed the comforts of homestead and quarters. The myth translated into a reality of racial prejudice, and the walls of Indigenous disadvantage were as unassailable as ever.
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