Indigenous Australians

Bruce Pascoe’s Black Duck is a ‘healing and necessary’ account of a year on his farm, following a difficult decade after Dark Emu

Retrieved on:

星期三, 四月 10, 2024

Bruce Pascoe is best known for his natural history, Dark Emu, which argues that systems of pre-colonial food production and land management in Australia have been dramatically understated.

Key Points:

Bruce Pascoe is best known for his natural history, Dark Emu, which argues that systems of pre-colonial food production and land management in Australia have been dramatically understated.
At last count, the book had sold at least 360,000 copies of the original edition – and many more in the form of adaptations, translations, children’s and overseas editions.
Since the publication of Dark Emu in 2014, Pascoe has had to endure extraordinary public scrutiny, as well as vehement attacks on his personal and professional reputation.

In light of the last ten years, Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra is a healing and necessary book.
The farm is a deliberate project designed to test, extend and materialise some of the ideas put forward in Dark Emu.
The meaning of Yumburra, Pascoe tells us, is Black Duck, the “supreme spiritual being of Yuin country”.

Six seasons on the farm

Through more than 60 subtitled journal entries, accompanied by numerous photographs and sketches, Pascoe charts the activities of his days.
These include labouring chores on the farm, visits paid and received (both there and interstate), thoughts, visions and experiments with food and agriculture, and memories and reflections on relationships reaching far back into childhood.
Pascoe describes life on the farm as solitary at times, but also active.
Daily farm work includes clearing watercourses or fixing tools and machinery, and at these times his friendships with the nonhuman are forged in both subtle and overt ways.

Despite their vigilance, the Spur-winged Plover loses a lot of chicks to eagles and foxes […] Their calls are ever-present on the farm.
If the horses gallop, an eagle passes, a dingo wakes or a car arrives, you hear about it instantly.
You can’t make friend with Birran Durran Durran because everything is a threat in its opinion.
Despite their vigilance, the Spur-winged Plover loses a lot of chicks to eagles and foxes […] Their calls are ever-present on the farm.

There is a sense of time moving on through the seasons.
Yumburra, too, was affected by that event, leading one of the farm workers to rename a whole section of the farm “Apocalypse Valley” in the aftermath.
“The unbridled pleasure I used to take in the forest, waters and shores is now tinged with sadness and dread.”

A true storyteller

The author is respectfully light on detail on these matters, but the reader is left in no doubt about their deep importance to him.
Pascoe’s authorial style sometimes comes across as a touch too lackadaisical and larrikin-esque, drifting as if unmoored.
And yet, he’s a true storyteller – and no sooner have you hesitated, than he reels you in again, and has you marvelling with him at the grandchildren’s handstands and cartwheels on the paddle board on the river, or at the cunning of the dingo pair who’ve taken out a young Buru (kangaroo) by gripping him by the ears and drowning him.
I assume it was the same animal because she made a great point of making sure I was watching her expertise.
It might be a romantic thought or a wish for longevity of a friend but, whatever the case, I enjoy the personality.“

Sometimes Pascoe quotes from her journal entries, discrete and beautifully rendered observations of wildlife on her own nearby property.
But as I was reading, I found myself wondering how else Lyn contributed to the book, and on what terms.

Connection to culture and Country

For anyone with lingering doubts about Pascoe’s commitment and connection to Country, this book will set them straight.
It is a quiet, funny, warm and insistent call to return to and care for Country.

Julienne van Loon has been a recipient of funding from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria and ArtsWA.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Assistant minister Malarndirri McCarthy says there’s ‘no rush’ on treaty and truth-telling

Retrieved on:

星期四, 二月 15, 2024

First Nations, Gap, Productivity, Politics, Aborigine, Federation, Government, Indigenous Australians, Human, Policy, Tobacco

What are multiple gaps are still vast, with many areas not on track to meet their targets.

Key Points:

What are multiple gaps are still vast, with many areas not on track to meet their targets.
After the failed Voice referendum, the government is looking to the next steps for First Nations people.
To discuss this week’s policy announcement, the centrepiece of which is a $700 million jobs program for people in remote areas, we’re joined by Malarndirri McCarthy, senator for the Northern Territory and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians.
On treaty and truth telling, McCarthy urges patience:
As a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman […] treaty to me is still unfinished business for First Nations people and our country, just like truth-telling is.

Albanese government commits $707 million for 3,000 jobs for Indigenous people in remote Australia

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星期一, 二月 12, 2024

Poverty, Education, Indigenous Australians, Productivity Commission, Horticulture, Tourism, Government, CDP, Health, Happiness, Employment, Aborigine, Community, Ageing, Partnership, Whaling

The Albanese government will commit $707 million for a new Remote Jobs program that will create 3,000 jobs over the next three years.

Key Points:

The Albanese government will commit $707 million for a new Remote Jobs program that will create 3,000 jobs over the next three years.
On Tuesday the government will release a report for 2023 on closing the gap and its implementation plan for 2024.
Jobs will be a centrepiece of the new initiatives but there will be other measures including on health and connectivity.
The jobs program will be implemented in partnership with Indigenous people, with the government stressing “it will be about remote communities deciding what will make the biggest difference locally”.

Albanese government commits $707 million for 3000 jobs for Indigenous people in remote Australia

Retrieved on:

星期一, 二月 12, 2024

Poverty, Education, Indigenous Australians, Productivity Commission, Horticulture, Tourism, Government, CDP, Health, Happiness, Employment, Aborigine, Community, Ageing, Partnership, Whaling

The Albanese government will commit $707 million for a new Remote Jobs program that will create 3000 jobs over the next three years.

Key Points:

The Albanese government will commit $707 million for a new Remote Jobs program that will create 3000 jobs over the next three years.
On Tuesday the government will release a report for 2023 on closing the gap and its implementation plan for 2024.
Jobs will be a centrepiece of the new initiatives but there will be other measures including on health and connectivity.
The jobs program will be implemented in partnership with Indigenous people, with the government stressing “it will be about remote communities deciding what will make the biggest difference locally”.

Grattan on Friday: Can the Albanese government show muscle in Indigenous policy? One test is coming next week

Retrieved on:

星期四, 二月 8, 2024

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says Tuesday’s statement will “commit to new actions that focus on making a practical difference”.

Key Points:

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says Tuesday’s statement will “commit to new actions that focus on making a practical difference”.
Equally, ambitions to transform how decisions are made and delivered have so far proved beyond governments.
But the review’s “overarching finding” is that there’s been “no systematic approach to determining what strategies need to be implemented to disrupt business-as-usual of governments”.
He points out that the 1967 referendum was about giving the Commonwealth power to make policy for Australia’s Indigenous people.
Another initiative he suggests is expanding the Indigenous workforce in the community services sector, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
On another front, Albanese has it in his power to make one desirable gesture.
The governor-generalship comes up soon, and an Indigenous appointment would be appropriate and welcome.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Indigenous trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue dies aged 91

Retrieved on:

星期一, 二月 5, 2024

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and images of a deceased person.

Key Points:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and images of a deceased person.
One of Australia’s most highly-regarded Indigenous leaders, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, has died aged 91.

Later she was the first woman to be a regional director of an Australian federal department.

She was involved in Indigenous causes ranging in scope from the 1967 referendum to the native title legislation of the 1990s.
She turned down Paul Keating’s offer of the governor-generalship.

Her family said in a statement announcing her death: “Aunty Lowitja dedicated her entire lifetime of work to the rights, health, and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

‘A giant for our country’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described O'Donoghue as “a figure of grace, moral clarity, and extraordinary inner strength.
She provided courageous leadership during the Mabo debates and as chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission,” Albanese said.
She taught me how to be a good public servant and to operate ethically.” Noel Pearson said O'Donoghue was “a leaders’ leader”.
"Without Lowitja’s ATSIC we would never have defended Eddie Mabo’s great legacy and negotiated the Native Title Act and Indigenous Land Fund.”

Lowitja Institute patron Pat Anderson said she was “a national treasure”. “Courageous and fearless in leading change, Lowitja was continually striving for better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. She will remain in my heart as a true friend and an inspiration to Australians for years to come.”

Keating pays tribute

Keating said in a statement that O'Donoghue “led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission with great power and
ambition.
"The consultation which gave effect to an Aboriginal voice speaking and representing a national community in designing a law to recover their expropritated traditional lands.

Labor’s Newspoll lead unchanged since December as 62% support stage three changes

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星期一, 二月 5, 2024

A national Newspoll, conducted January 31 to February 3 from a sample of 1,245, gave Labor a 52–48 lead, unchanged since the previous Newspoll in mid-December.

Key Points:

A national Newspoll, conducted January 31 to February 3 from a sample of 1,245, gave Labor a 52–48 lead, unchanged since the previous Newspoll in mid-December.
Primary votes were 36% Coalition (steady), 34% Labor (up one), 12% Greens (down one), 7% One Nation (steady) and 11% for all Others (steady).
Anthony Albanese’s net approval dropped one point to -9, while Peter Dutton’s net approval was down four points to -13.
His net approval is still well below zero, and hasn’t recovered to its level before the Voice referendum defeat.

Essential poll: 48–46 to Labor

In last week’s federal Essential poll, conducted January 24–28 from a sample of 1,201, Labor led by 48–46 including undecided (49–46 in December).
Labor has led by one-to-three points in all Essential polls since late October.
Primary votes were 34% Coalition (steady), 32% Labor (up one), 13% Greens (steady), 7% One Nation (up one), 2% UAP (steady), 7% for all Others (down two) and 5% undecided (steady).
Analyst Kevin Bonham said Labor would have about a 53–47 lead in this poll by 2022 election preference flows.

Morgan poll and a second Queensland byelection

In last week’s federal Morgan poll, conducted January 22–28 from a sample of 1,688, Labor led by 50.5–49.5, a two-point gain for the Coalition since the previous week.
Primary votes were 37.5% Coalition (up 1.5), 31% Labor (down 1.5), 13% Greens (up 0.5), 5.5% One Nation (up 0.5) and 13% for all Others (down one).
I covered the March 16 Queensland state byelection in Inala last fortnight.
A second Queensland byelection will also occur on March 16 after Ipswich West’s Labor member Jim Madden resigned to contest the Ipswich local government elections on March 16.

Biden wins 96% in South Carolina Democratic primary

At Saturday’s United States Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina, Joe Biden won 96.2% of the vote, Marianne Williamson 2.1% and Dean Phillips 1.7%.
This result makes it all but certain that Biden will be the Democratic presidential nominee.
In the Republican presidential contest, Donald Trump leads Nikki Haley nationally by 73.6–17.2 in the FiveThirtyEight aggregate.
The next important contest is the February 24 Republican primary in South Carolina, Haley’s home state.

Adrian Beaumont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

How Lowitja O'Donoghue’s activism and leadership changed advocacy on Indigenous affairs in Australia

Retrieved on:

星期一, 二月 5, 2024

In the many tributes that have flowed since the announcement of Lowitja O’Donoghue’s death on February 4 at age 91, many commentators have noted her leadership and commitment to public life over many years.

Key Points:

In the many tributes that have flowed since the announcement of Lowitja O’Donoghue’s death on February 4 at age 91, many commentators have noted her leadership and commitment to public life over many years.
Of her many public roles, chairing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1990-2005) across the first six years of its life stands out.

An activist and trailblazer

There she joined the Aborigines Advancement League and helped spearhead campaigns for civil rights.
Read more:
Indigenous trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue dies aged 91
In 1967 she joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs, rising to become regional director from 1975-79.
A key recommendation of her report was the establishment of regional assemblies across Australia, a model that became central to ATSIC.

Inaugural chair of ATSIC

O'Donoghue was regarded as the logical choice for inaugural chair of ATSIC.
A statutory body, combining representative, advisory and administrative functions, ATSIC was unlike all previous representative bodies for Indigenous Australians.
She steered a board of 17 regional commissioners, along with an extra two commissioners appointed by the minister.

Negotiating Mabo

Not long after this, O'Donoghue was required to steer ATSIC’s response to the Mabo decision.
This was no small task, as it unleashed a torrent of discontent across Australia and resistance in many quarters.
Read more:
Australian politics explainer: the Mabo decision and native title
This was a highlight of her career, not least because it demonstrated that ATSIC was no “toothless tiger” and showcased the acumen of a rising Aboriginal political sector.

Taking Indigenous advocacy around the world

In 1993, the international year of the world’s Indigenous peoples, she spoke at the World Conference on Human Rights at Vienna.
In his PhD thesis on Indigenous engagement with the UN, Indigenous scholar Graeme La Macchia shows how in the development of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, member states became anxious about words like self-determination.
He shows how O'Donoghue held firm, arguing that nothing short of political self-determination and economic empowerment would suffice for the world’s Indigenous people.

A profound legacy

In her farewell address, O'Donoghue described her time at ATSIC as intense, exhilarating and, at times, exhausting.
We should know and remember her considerable contribution to this important part of our political history.

Alison Holland receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DP230100714 - Policy for Self-Determination: the Case Study of ATSIC) with Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt, Associate Professor Daryl Rigney, Dr Kirsten Thorpe and Lindon Coombes.

Allowing duck hunting to continue in Victoria is shameful and part of a disturbing trend

Retrieved on:

星期二, 一月 30, 2024

The Victorian government has confirmed duck and quail hunting will continue in the state, albeit with changes which would purportedly ensure the practice “remains safe, sustainable and responsible”.

Key Points:

The Victorian government has confirmed duck and quail hunting will continue in the state, albeit with changes which would purportedly ensure the practice “remains safe, sustainable and responsible”.
The controversial decision is a rejection of recommendations by a bipartisan parliamentary committee chaired by a Labor MP, which recommended ending native bird hunting this year.
To us as Yuin men, Yumburra (black duck) – one of the species being hunted – is a culturally significant species and our tribal totem.

Read more:
Why duck shooting season still isn't on the endangered list

Open season for controversy

The issue emerges every autumn when the responsible minister is set to announce the details of the shooting season.
Each year the same groups come out to wade through the muddy water and thrash out the same bloody arguments.
The inquiry heard non-lethal wounding rates of ducks could be as high 6-40%, or 15,700 to 105,000 based on the 2022 season.
The government says it will accept the other seven recommendations “in full or in principle”, by changing the rules from 2025.

But in practice these measures will be resource-intensive and challenging to implement effectively.
And hunting-related harm to individual ducks and populations can only be reduced, when it could have been eliminated.

A disturbing pattern of behaviour

In December 2021 I was invited to present an Indigenous perspective to an inquiry into ecosystem decline in Victoria.
I told them of watching the decline of the manna gum woodlands I had grown up in, and how that impacted me.
That inquiry found threatened native species are suffering severe declines and are not being holistically protected.
These declines included “waterbird species in the Murray–Darling Basin” and “distribution and abundance of waterbirds in the Murray–Darling Basin”.

Demand more from the Victorian government

It’s not fading in a faraway place, it’s happening on your doorstep, within your sphere of influence.
We, as Victorians, must accept our responsibility to care for this place that sustains us both physically and spiritually.
We must demand that governments acknowledge the environment is being devastated and prioritise policies to reverse the trend.

Jack Pascoe is affiliated with Back to Country and is Co-Chief Councilor of the Biodiversity Council.

A Victorian bookshop owner has called for ‘a substantial shift’ in ‘woke’ Australian publishing – but we still need diverse books

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星期二, 一月 30, 2024

Horman’s list of books we don’t need includes “hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda”.

Key Points:

Horman’s list of books we don’t need includes “hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda”.
Robinsons has since made an official apology, claiming Horman’s comments had been “taken out of context” and “misrepresented”.
Ironically, her earlier call on social media for less diversity comes as many librarians are calling for more diverse books in Australian bookshops and libraries.
In relation to positive male lead characters, in April 2019, I examined the 100 bestselling picture books at Australian book retailer Dymocks.
There were only seven female-led books in the top 50, compared to 26 male-led books.

‘Traditional nuclear white family stories’

While Horman claimed “traditional nuclear white family stories” were “missing” from Robinsons’ bookshelves, such households are commonly portrayed in Australian picture books.
(Yes, more family types are now being explored, but white, two-parent families are far from missing.)

Australian booksellers’ peak industry body, Book People, posted on X yesterday: “We stand with bookshops that celebrate inclusivity”.
Read more:
Empathy starts early: 5 Australian picture books that celebrate diversity

Not ‘missing from the mix’

Positive stories with men and boys as the hero are almost missing from the mix.
Neither Susanne Horman, nor Robinsons Bookshop are making a value judgement on this observation.
Susanne apologises if people have taken this comment as a negative reflection on an excellent range of diverse books.
Read more:
White, female, and high rates of mental illness: new diversity research offers a snapshot of the publishing industry

Is the industry changing?

However, the Australian publishing industry is a long way off equitable representation.
Its workers remain “largely white”, which is reflected in its publishing output.
Australian picture books, for example, remain predominately white in representation, with people of colour making up approximately 12% of characters.

Sarah Mokrzycki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.