#Aboriginal Australians

[claraameliapond]

For Australia, 26th January is invasion day, and that's literally it.

Today is a horrifically sad day in Australian history. Invasion day.

That's literally all it is.

Please please please do not join in the chorus of racism wishing anyone a "Happy Australia day" on the 26th of January

We can, have and are moving forward together as a country,

But we cannot truly do so if a celebration of our country and identity is held on the literal anniversary of the brutal and long-standing invasion, massacre and occupation of Australian aboriginals, the first peoples of Australia.

This invasion and subsequent violent Colonisation was full of many horrors that lasted well into the late twentieth century, and the long-standing repercussions of which have lasted to this day.

The stolen generations , in which generations - multiple generations of young aboriginal children were literally stolen by white colonists from their families, sent to missions, (detention boarding "schools ") , in which they were converted to Christianity and prepared for menial jobs, punished if they ever spoke their own languages, and subsequently put into the service of white families, with the intention to be bred out, never to see their families again. Never to be educated about their home, their families, their land, their culture, their languages, their history; they are the oldest continuing culture on earth. The last of these missions were in effect until 1969. By 1969, all states had repealed the legislation that allowed the removal of Aboriginal children under the policy and guise of "protection".

The indigenous health, longevity and poverty gaps still exist. Access to medicine, medical care, healthcare, a western education, all things we deem human rights by law, are not accessible to many rural communities still. They are provided, but in western ways, on western terms, with a gap of understanding how best to implement those services for an entirely different culture , that we do not have a thorough understanding of - that was what the referendum was about: , how best to implement the funds that are already designated to provide those services, because it's not currently working or usable by those communities. Our aboriginal communities are still not treated equally, nor do they have the same access we all enjoy to things like healthcare services, medicines and western education.

It is horrific and insensitive to therefore celebrate that day as our country's day of identity, because it's literally celebrating the first day and all subsequent days of the invasion, the massacres, the stolen generations, the subjugation and mistreatment, the inequalities that still persist today. It celebrates that day, that act committed on that day, of invasion , violent brutal massacres of Aboriginal people, as a positive, 'good' thing. As something that defines Australia's identity and should define an identity to be proud of.

That's nothing to be proud of.

Our true history is barely taught in our school curriculum, in both primary and secondary school. Not even acknowledged.

It needs to be.

We cannot properly move forward as a country until that truth is understood by every Australian, with compulsory education.

January 26th is Not 'Australia day'. It's Invasion day. It's a sorrowful day of mourning.

Please do not wish anyone a "happy Australia day " today.

It's not happy and it's not Australia day.

Australia day should be at the end of Reconciliation week that is held from the 23rd May to 3rd June.

A sentiment that is about all of us coming together as a shared identity within many identities, accepting and valuing each other as equal, a day that actually acknowledges Australian aboriginal peoples as the first Australians - because they are.

This is literally about acknowledging fact - that is the truth of Australian history. Aboriginal cultures should be celebrated and embraced, learnt from, not ignored, treated as invisible and especially not desecrated by holding celebrations of national identity on anniversaries of their violent destruction.

Australian aboriginal peoples, cultures and histories, should be held up as Australia's proud identity of origins, because it literally is Australia's origins.

That's a huge, foundational integral part of our shared identity that must be celebrated and acknowledged.

Inclusivity, not offensive exclusivity. Australia day used to be on 30th July, also 28th July, among others. Australia Day on the 26th January only officially became a public holiday for all states and territories 24 years ago, in 1994. It's been changed a lot before. It can certainly be changed so it can be a nonoffensive , happy celebration of our shared Australian national identity for everyone, that respectfully acknowledges and includes the full truth of our whole shared history, not just the convenient parts.

There is literally no reason it can't be changed, and every reason to change it.

#Always Was Always Will Be

[scotianostra]

Charles Duguid was born on 6th April 1884 at Saltcoats, Ayrshire.

I only learned of this man 4 years ago, and have to say, if ever there was an apt name for a man “Dr Do Good” as he became known has that honour.

Duguid was the son of Charles Duguid, a teacher, and Jane Snodgrass Kinnier, daughter of Robert S. Kinnier, a surgeon, he attended Ardrossan Academy, where his father was Headmaster between 1882 and 1889, and the High School in Glasgow, before studying medicine at Glasgow University he gained a Master of arts in 1905 before going on to gain degrees in Medicine and surgery. Whilst teaching at Glasgow University, Duguid worked as a doctor in the slums of Glasgow, but in 1911 he signed on as ship’s surgeon for a voyage to and from Australia. This experience led him to emigrate to Australia in 1912. His early medical work in the Glasgow slums developed in him a compassion for the underdog which continued throughout his 102-year life.

After settling in Victoria and marrying an Australian lass, who tragically died in 1927, he remarried in 1930, both Duguid and his wife were idealists and humanitarians, the murder of a white man by Aboriginals at Landers Creek, Northern Territory, sparked Duguid’s interest in their rights.

The police shot 17 Aboriginals during the course of the hunt for the murderer, but official records at the time state that at least 31 people were killed. In 1934 he headed to Darwin, but missed his connection from Alice Springs after responding to a request to perform some emergency surgery there and stayed on for three weeks. He was appalled at the way Aboriginal people were treated there and by their poor living conditions.

Duguid’s wife Phyllis, founded the Aboriginal Advancement League in 1935 and Duguid served as President. In 1937, Duguid helped to found Ernabella Mission in the Musgrave Ranges of South Australia. He lectured and spoke in the UK as well as Australia and New Zealand about the conditions of the Australian Aborigines.

Duguid was active in other organizations concerned with the advancement of Aboriginal rights such as the Council for Aboriginal Rights and the Association for the Protection of Native Races. He also led the 1947 campaign against the establishment of a British-Australian rocket testing program at Woomera in the Central Australian Desert. He worked closely with Donald Thompson to inform the public of the harmful effect that this program would have on those people still living traditionally, nearby.

In addition to his work with Australian Aborigines, Duguid helped to found the Australian branch of the English-Speaking Union, of which he was Chairman in 1932. In 1935, he was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of South Australia. Duguid died in Adelaide on December 5th, 1986 at the age of 102.

Check out this link for the full story of this good man http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/duguid-charles-12440

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

[IMAGE ID: a large fonted poster that says in big bold letters "now more than ever" along the bottom it reads "national reconciliation week 2024 27 May to 3 June #NRW2024 reconciliation.org.au" END ID:]

oh wait it's transparent GUYS it's fine if you use light mode. but if you use anything but light mode you might need to just look at it a bit

happy reconciliation week!

for actually a really cool and awesome education program!

this is super cool!

actually everyone check this one out! ^^^

^^^^^ THIS EVERY MUTUAL READ ^^^^^

THIS LITERALLY NO JOKE! PLEASE DO I AM PUTTING THIS ON THE PINNED POST this is the best introduction to First Nations stuff I've seen for people who aren't Australian PLEASE LOOK AT IT EVEN IF BRIEFLY PLEASEEEE

I will be trying to post stuff every day this week but I will probably forget :( I'm never consistent but please guys have a look at this stuff!!!!!!

[saotome-michi]

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in its constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well majorities in four of Australia’s six states.

The defeat will be seen by Indigenous advocates as a blow to what has been a hard fought struggle to progress reconciliation and recognition in modern Australia, with First Nations people continuing to suffer discrimination, poorer health and economic outcomes.

More than 17 million Australians were enrolled for the compulsory vote, with many expats visiting embassies around the world in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s poll.

The vote occurred 235 years on from British settlement, 61 years after Aboriginal Australians were granted the right to vote, and 15 years since a landmark prime ministerial apology for harm caused by decades of government policies including the forced removal of children from Indigenous families.

The referendum had been a key promise that Labor party took to the federal election in 2022, when it returned to power after years of conservative rule.

Support for the voice to parliament had been strong in the early months of 2023, polling showed, but subsequently began a slow and steady decline.

[furmity]

Acknowledgment of Country

I acknowledge the Meru people, whose ancestral land we purchased and now live upon. The nations of the Ngawait, Erawirung, Nganguruku, Ngawadj, Njaiawang, Ngaralda peoples, and others.

I say sorry for all that was taken and that which is lost. We shall go gently, and we will pay the rent.

I respect these peoples' continuing relationship with the land and waters, and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

The Dreaming is still living in Meru country, as it always was, and always will be.

[trekkitkat]

Because it appears to have been forgotten in a matter of days. A reminder that the current leading political party of Australia, rejected an official investigation into the sexual abuse of indigenous children.

They campaigned for months for government representation for indigenous people, talking about healing and reconciliation, then four days later, they rejected a Royal Commision investigation into the abuse of indigenous children, and no one asked why!!!!!

Do they care about indigenous people or not?????

Or do they only want to talk about it when it can be a pretty campaign of smiles, music and ceremonies. They don't want to deal with the horror of toddlers being victims of pedophiles and children on the street because they have nowhere safe to go.

The government of this country disgusts me.

[oceaniatropics]

[ammg-old2]

In Southern Australia, vandals have broken into Koonalda Cave and destroyed 30,000 year-old sacred Indigenous rock art. The vandals forced their way past barbed wire and dug under a steel gate to get into the Koonalda Caves, where they etched graffiti into the limestone wall over the ancient Nullarbor Plain drawings. The cave is considered sacred by its owners, the Aboriginal Mirning people.

“This is quite frankly shocking,” South Australia attorney general and Aboriginal affairs minister Kyam Maher told Australia’s ABC Radio. “These caves are some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country.”

Authorities have yet to find the vandals, but the suspects could face a $10,000 fine or up to six months in prison for writing “Don’t look now, but this is a death cave,” over the ancient geometric patterns carved into the rock.

“The vandals caused a huge amount of damage. The art is not recoverable,” Keryn Walshe, an archaeologist of ancient Aboriginal sites, told the Guardian’s Mostafa Rachwani. “The surface of the cave is very soft. It is not possible to remove the graffiti without destroying the art underneath. It’s a massive, tragic loss to have it defaced to this degree.”

Koonalda Cave, which has been on Australia’s National Heritage list since 2014, plays an important role in the country’s, and human, history. It had long been believed that humans first arrived on the continent some 8,700 years ago, but archaeologists upended that misconception when they found that the cave's drawings date back at least 30,000 years. The findings “transformed the scientific community and publics’ understanding of Australian and World prehistory,” according to the Australian National Hertiage Places registry.

The Mirning peoples had been in talks with the Australian government over needed changes to the site’s maintenance, asking for increased security and better access for the tribe to the caves. Currently, the tribe needs to request a key from the local environmental department to access the site, making it difficult for tribe members to visit and for the Mirning to protect the site. Trespassers have been entering the caves for years and carving their names into the soft limestone rock with their fingers.

“The failure to build an effective gate, or to make use of modern security services, such as wildlife monitoring cameras that operate 24/7, has in many ways allowed this vandalism to occur,” Clare Buswell, chair of the Australian Speleological Federation’s Conservation Commission, wrote to Aboriginal lands parliamentary standing committee in July, according to the Guardian.

Rock art, like the drawings destroyed in Koonalda Cave, is the oldest known form of early human art. In many Indigenous cultures, the drawings are a part of their cultural heritage and oral histories. Visiting the Nullarbor Plain art was part of a Mirning Elders ritual in communing with ancestors. 

“Me and my Mirning Elders are very sad, disturbed and hurt by what has happened,” Mirning Elder Uncle Bunna Lawrie tells Hyperallergic’s Elaine Veile. “Koonalda is our most important, sacred place.”

He tells Hyperallergic that it’s likely the destruction was “premeditated”: the drawings are deep within the tunnels of the dark caves, and Koonalda is miles away from civilization.

“It is not coming back,” says Lawrie of the ruined drawings. “It is one of the oldest cave art in the world and it is now damaged. It is so wrong.”

[indizombie]

Taking the time to stop and really listen to the environment around them is part of what Miriam-Rose describes as dadirri — a form of deep listening and quiet still awareness. “It helps your spirit to be fulfilled,” Miriam-Rose says. “Sometimes when I say, you gotta slow down, let’s go and sit by the riverbank and watch the flow of the river and listen to the sounds of the bird or listen to the wind blowing through the leaves – some people cry, westerners, because they can’t see themselves slowing down.”

‘A link to the past’, ABC

[autisticexpression2]

Seeing a lot of posts about the Palestinian flag, and it got me thinking about indigenous flags around the world.

Māori:

Kalaallit Nunaat:

Haudenosaunee

Nunatsiavut:

Australian Aboriginal:

Torres Strait Islands:

Rapa Nui:

Kurdistan:

Sami:

Ainu:

Of course, these are just a handful. May they all reclaim their stolen lands.

[communist-hatsunemiku]

QuillSketch

[kiunlo]

our humanity as Australian Aboriginal people has been questioned vigorously ever since whitefella came to our fucking lands and i'm going to be honest i don't give a fucking shit if your questions about Aboriginal people are purely from a scientific evolutionary standpoint: asking how or why Aboriginal people are considered to be Homo sapiens is the most racist dogshit way you could ever fucking ask your stupid question. As if us Aboriginal people don't have to deal with racist cunts saying that we're extinct or that we're not as evolved as everyone else because we never "progressed" past a certain point or some shit (as if "progression" was some how necessary for us to support our communities and live our lives the way we wanted to). it is the most tone-deaf racist fucking dumb shit i have ever heard. i am now demanding that non-Aboriginal people actually read the many many pdfs and articles that are out there, made by Aboriginal people and by different Australian government bodies about how to work with or communicate with Aboriginal people and what is/is not allowed to be asked and other BASIC FUCKING INFORMATION ABOUT ABORIGINAL PEOPLE because you whitefella are acting so out of fucking pocket that i truly believe that you need to read this shit so you actually start acting respectful when it comes to Aboriginal issues and you know HOW to actually talk about these issues without talking over us or being a shitcunt about it. and yeah one of the PDF's is 51 pages long. suck it up and read the whole thing and don't complain about it to me.

[sketchquill]

A really rough sketch of an attempt at making an Australian Miku design 😅🇦🇺🖤💛❤️ 

I saw this trend going around on Twitter where people made Miku designs based of their countries and I wanted to participate in it 🥰

While I am Australian I am not Aboriginal/Indigenous ((Well, on my Mum’s side according to her family she has ancestors who are but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count concerning me)) however I still wanted to include this aspect into my Australian Miku’s design as Aboriginal/Indigenous people were the first people of Australia, they are part of Australia’s history and because of that I felt that they should be included/represented too. 

[mortispbf]

[furmity]

The wandjina are sacred to the Wandjina Wunggurr peoples. These rock paintings are maintained by the Mowanjum people on their unceded ancestral land. Australian Aboriginals are not a monolyth but hundreds of cultures, and the Mowanjum are unique among them.

"Aboriginal mythology" is very much a closed practice. The Dreaming is still living and we should treat this cultural history with respect. Mowanjum owners have asked that their images are not reproduced without permission. Their law is particular about who can paint wandjinas and great offense has been caused here in Australia by irreverent representations.

The Wandjinas [Australian Aboriginal mythology]!

In the belief system of the native Aboriginal people of Kimberley, Western Australia, the peculiar rock paintings called ‘Wandjina’ play a significant cultural role. The depicted spirits have a very distinct appearance with a mouthless face, large eyes and their signature headdress.

Long before humans existed, the Wandjinas populated the earth along with Ungud, a divine being. These mysterious spirits are each responsible for the creation of a specific feature of nature and the world we live in.

And so these beings wandered around the world, shaping it into the landscape we can see today. When their work was done, each Wandjina wandered into a cave and died, transforming into the painting. This is actually an important distinction: though I’m using the word ‘painting’ in this article, traditional Aboriginal belief holds that the Wandjinas were never actually painted by someone. Instead, they appeared on the stone walls as the reincarnation of the Wandjina’s living form.

As such, it is important that these paintings are renewed every year (this typically happens at the end of the dry season), for if a painting is lost then the spirit of that Wandjina will die. If the Wandjinas are lost or destroyed, the world would end and there would be no more rain; the Earth would become a barren desert landscape and the pillars that hold up the heavens will break.

Renewing a painting of a female Wandjina in particular will replenish the fertility of the people, which supposedly causes an increase in births. It is actually unknown why Wandjina are always depicted without mouths, but this is an important characteristic as native people claim it would be unthinkable to add one. Anthropologists have speculated that this symbolizes the spirits’ life-giving nature: they always create, and never consume.

Sources: Blundell, V. J., 1974, The Wandjina Cave Paintings of Northwest Australia, Arctic Anthropology, 11, pp. 213-223. Cotterell, A. et al., 1999, Encyclopedie van de Wereld Mythologie, Parragon, 320 pp. (image 1: Wandjinas near the Barnett River. Image source: Graeme Churchard) (image source 2: Pierdziwilk, this is a modern re-imagining of the spirits)

[furmity]

Sorry Day- 26 May

Terranora Public School, adapted from the Healing Foundation