As soon as she mentioned lollies, my brain flagged up, “Type 2 Diabetes”.
Note that the most unusual thing about Ms Brown is that she’s still alive to tell her story.
The average life expectancy for non-Indigenous women in the Northern Territory is 83. For Indigenous women, it’s 68.
10 Likes
Pretty sure those bits are kriol (but I think there might be something else in there too) Australian Kriol - Wikipedia
1 Like
In the mood for some classic Aboriginal rock, now…
…which is a stompin’ tune, but relatively apolitical. Warumpi Band were also known for this one:
That was 70s/80s; the next wave in the 90s/00s gave us these:
More recently:
(those last two songs are largely sung in Indigenous languages)
There were also a few white artists who noticed what was going on. Most notably:
—
See here for a quick spotted history of the last ~50 years of Australian Indigenous music:
5 Likes
We were in all the papers, after all.
1 Like
That line made me sad, because they must’ve lost some of their identity in the process. I don’t know enough about the history of Australia and its peoples, and what their current situation is so i found the video to be interesting but frustratingly light on details… i guess the bonus is that my interest is piqued.
3 Likes
Put it this way: Indigenous Americans tend to look at their situation and say “at least it isn’t as bad as Australia”.
It began with the usual genocide; massacres, disease, abuse, exploitation. There are essentially no Tasmanian Aborigines surviving, and the mainland population crashed catastrophically.
The invasion of Australia didn’t just destroy a nation; it massacred a continent. This is what was here before:
In 1838, a group of white farmers massacred a group of Aboriginal people at Myall Creek. It’s notable because it was the first time in Australian history that white men were prosecuted for killing Aboriginal people. The defence based their case on the argument that they didn’t know that killing Aborigines was illegal.
Until 1967, Indigenous Australians had little to no rights. They were treated as fauna; the “enlightened” position was referred to as “smooth the dying pillow”. AKA: “we’re going to complete the genocide, but try to be nice about it”.
Things are not much better today.
7 Likes
No, that’s what you’re imputing to @TheGreatParis’s comment. The implication is that this one interview conducted and edited for content is disappointingly narrow in its subject matter. Presumably, like me, there’s a great many questions he would like to ask this remarkable person about her experiences that Rebel Films, for whatever reasons, chose not to cover. That’s their prerogative, but expressing disappointment in their choices isn’t at the same as expressing disappointment in the interviewee’s experiences.
2 Likes
Well, look, his exact words were
Now you may find it plausible to see this as a critique of the editor or interviewer. I’m afraid I don’t. But I’ll leave it there since I don’t think there’s a way we’ll resolve it.
Very much agree with you about her being a remarkable subject, however.
I’m not suggesting that we not listen to her, because her story is one of the many ways that colonization worked out. What I’m curious to is if she calls herself “Stumpy” or if she and her family call themselves by different names. I’ve got quite a few friends who’ve got “family and friend” names that may be in a different language or hard to pronounce in english, who go by something completely different when dealing with people outside of their immediate circle (kind of path of least resistance approach).
And, honestly, I’m glad that it worked out for her, because there are thousands of ways that it could have gone much poorer, and the world would be a lesser place without her and her art. Keeping that in mind though, it’s important to know the stories of the people it didn’t work out for, and to learn from that.
2 Likes
I appreciate that we can amicably part ways.
1 Like
Same here, GF.
1 Like
Possibly also worth noting that I understand the preferred use of indigenous when referring ti First Australians is Indigenous with the capital i. Otherwise I believe indigenous refers to flora and fauna (plants and animals)… which Aborigines were officially classified as until the late 1960s. 
Is this correct @Wanderfound ? (Both using the capital i and their classification.)
2 Likes
I’m not an authority on this subject, but AFAIAA, yes.
Related: part of the reason for the tendency to use “Indigenous” here instead of “Aboriginal” is in order to include the people of the Torres Strait Islands. They’re distinct enough from mainlanders that Australian Indigenous organisations tend to use the phrase “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders” (e.g. https://aiatsis.gov.au), but that’s a bit of a mouthful for casual conversation.
So, these days folks often use “Indigenous Australians” as shorthand for “Australian Aboriginal peoples, including those of the Torres Strait Islands”.
You’ll also find some contexts in which Indigenous people identify in Indigenous languages. Sometimes this is a tribal label, sometimes it’s more regional. Indigenous people from the Sydney area are Koori, those from around Brisbane are Murri, those immediately around Uluru are Anangu, etc.
The US/Canadian “First Nations” term is pretty much unused here.
3 Likes
Thank you. You may not think you’re an authority but you’re more knowledgeable than me!
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
