By Richard Trudgen
OPINION: Some people are suggesting that the colonisation of Australia did not, and does not, continue to harm Australia’s First Nations people. They suggest that the British colonisation has only brought improvements to the lives of the original Australians.
Their arguments rely on the changes to people’s lives wrought by modernisation, which has brought both benefits and harms to all cultures.
However, to argue that past and present actions of colonisation in Australia have not dramatically affected the original Australians is patently false, given the lived experience of groups like the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land.
The proof that colonisation delivers ongoing harm has been demonstrated by the abject failure of Closing the Gap efforts.
Living with Yolngu people for over 50 years
Having lived and worked with the Yolngu for over 50 years, I know that colonisation has destroyed the Yolngu people.
Because of colonisation, they now suffer from the highest death rates in Australia, massive underemployment, low academic attainment and high incarceration rates. They have also lost their business mastery, academic languages, systems of governance, teaching institutions, midwifery skills and other high-level medical expertise.
I originally wrote about this 20 years ago in the book Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, and the destructive change since then has been accelerated, especially since the massive injection of public money through former prime minister John Howard’s intervention into the Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory in 2007.
This short-sighted, destructive policy set back these communities by at least 30 years.
What is going wrong here?
Modern day Australia is a direct result of actions taken over 200 years ago at the beginning of the British colony. Since then, many on both sides of the cultural divide have struggled to find effective solutions to closing the gap between the two cultures.
To find answers, we need to look at what is still causing the division and failure in program development for people like Yolngu. Without looking at the continuing underlying problem in the structural relationships, nothing can change for the better.
Unconsidered colonial factors still in play today
The lived reality of the Yolngu people includes post-colonial factors, like the intergenerational transfer of trauma; poverty; confusion; hopelessness; derogatory naming; subconscious or implicit bias; structural or community violence.
The colonial basis for some of these factors is understood by sectors of the mainstream English-speaking community. However, others are not well understood.
If Australia is going to close the gap, we need to understand and discuss all these real-life contributing factors. As with any problem, until you fully understand it, you cannot effectively deal with it.
Colonialism is alive and well
Colonialism is alive and well in Australia today and still impacts First Nations people, whether or not they have been fully assimilated into the English mainstream.
The lives of Indigenous people could be very different with appropriate awareness, knowledge, skills, and the roll-out of appropriate language-based information and educational services for both the original Australians and mainstream English speaking people.
This ongoing disaster does not have to destroy future generations of people. However, these underlying issues need to be addressed. Otherwise, the tit-for-tat battles and the disastrous statistics will continue.
For more information you can visit the Why Warriors website.
Richard Trudgen is the managing director of Why Warriors and a community educator, who has worked in community development and education for almost 50 years, with 42 years spent working with the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land.
He speaks Djambarrpuyŋu, wrote the book Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, built Yolngu Radio and spent 15 years presenting the Bridging The Gap seminars to audiences across Australia.
Richard leads Why Warriors bicultural, bilingual production team providing Yolngu people access to answers about health, economic, legal, governance, general information, and hard English terms in their own language.
She has no clue…it’s all about her ego and desire to be ‘famous’ in her own lunchtime.
She’ll continue to cream millions (in salary and perks) from the federal government coffers for decades to come.
All the time creating division and angst in an already disadvantaged people.
Disgraceful behaviour…unabashed ‘it’s all about me’…
There is one sound point about lost culture – evident across most civilisations world wide, whether conquered or integrated. Historical skills and knowledge (not recorded) continues to diminish as each generation passes. Every continents populations realise that some base life / medical knowledge – medicinal herbs/healing methods – have been lost because people lives we disrupted in their historical or traditional ways of living. This Great Southern Land was ripe for plucking when in the 18th Century, the march of progress came this way. Time was always going to catch up with this land and the people who were here prior to the particular Colonial settlers.
BUT if not this lot, then who might have come and how might they have acted. Differently?
Look to the North East and West. Different how? Why is this ignored when reporting what did occur – and why it occurred at that particular time of “enlightened Peoples” in the expansion by western civilisation into other nations.
Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do rah rah rah. Hmmm.. for your people, your fellow man….oops person/s.
I’m not saying “be praise be proud” of what occurred in every instance. Certainly don’t accept the guilt that the “opinion” seems to infer on colonialisation…upon anyone not Ylongu…..and by race (ouch) other Aboriginal people/s…..who I too have lived, worked and cohabited with in different ways and locations for 40 odd years here in NT. What always troubles me is that for the 20 years growing up in “enlightened Victoria”. I knew nothing of, was taught nothing about the Bunurong people of the area where I was born.
Without insult to all my respected aassociate/friend or family, and not to disparage any clan leader, past, present, or emerging, does this opinion peice infer that all actions of Ylongu (and other Aboriginal clan) leaders over the past 250 odd years were singulalrly focused on the benefit to all their peoples, not a selective sum, and if not, why are those actions not being called out here too.
The “Gap” does exist. There is greater need to investigate recent actions to improve future outcomes NOW, than naval gazing at the distant past. We can work back to there when the real work is done.
As Australians, we are where we are. We need action to save cultural values.
Singling out Gough Whitlam / John Howard for weaknesses later found in their attempts – in their time/s – to Close that Gap,that many people have since been able to exploit, does nothing but diminish the writers creds.
Get heads out of the books. Raise them trust that your eyes see what’s needed, rather than relying on your ears.
Then perhaps with clear heads, warm hearts and willing hands, people will take action to make a difference….today.
Be honest, Aboriginal communities are too small, remote & have no prospects for Aboriginal Youth to gain employable vocational or academic education & AI skills. All white & blak youth live for and covet the newest mobile phone to connect with global communities.
Australians need an honest conversation about the waste of money spent in aging & dying communities. Larger towns & cities offer hope & a future if that is what Aboriginals want. Alternatively let them live in their quiet traditional culture with no wifi or influence from the colonised white communities. Live & let live.