 |
| Photo by Rashaad Jordan, Flickr Creative Commons |
'A Crew of Pyrates are driven by a Storm they know not whither; at length a Boy discovers Land from the Top-mast; they go on Shore to rob and plunder; they see an harmless People, are entertained with Kindness, they give the Country a new Name, they take formal Possession of it for the King, they set up a rotten Plank or a Stone for a Memorial, they murder two or three Dozen of the Natives, bring away a Couple more by Force for a Sample, return home, and get their Pardon. Here commences a new Dominion acquired with a Title by Divine Right. Ships are sent with the first Opportunity; the Natives driven out or destroyed, their Princes tortured to discover their Gold; a free Licence given to all Acts of Inhumanity and Lust; the Earth reeking with the Blood of its Inhabitants; And this execrable Crew of Butchers employed in so pious an Expedition, is a modern Colony sent to convert and civilize an idolatrous and barbarous People.'
from 'Gulliver's Travels' by Jonathan Swift (1726)
'This immense tract of Land, the largest known which does not bear the name of a continent, as it is considerably larger than all Europe, is thinly inhabited even to admiration, at least that part of it that we saw; we never but once saw so many as thirty Indians together and that was a family ... We saw indeed only the sea coast; what the immense tract of inland country may produce is to us totally unknown: we have liberty to conjecture however that they are totally uninhabited ..."
from 'The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks' 1768-1771
'Since (the) colony was acquired neither by conquest nor cession, but by the mere occupation of a desert or uninhabited land. It is insisted that His Majesty's subjects settling in a country thus acquired, carry with them the Law of England ...'
from VALIDITY OF STATUTE, 20 George IIc. 19 IN THE COLONY 1822 'HISTORIC RECORDS OF AUSTRALIA' 1922
These are the fictions, the cultural blindness, upon which the colony was founded. A people clearly living, thriving, in an inhabited land were deemed not to be there and when they fought to keep that which they were the custodians of, that was not a war.
These non-existent people, even now can only be seen when they do something exceptional; and something that can be recognised as achievement according to white values.
Charles Perkins was good at playing soccer, which allowed him to earn enough money to pay his way through university, becoming the first aboriginal man to do so, graduating in 1966.
While a student in 1965 he organised the Freedom Ride travelling through towns in New South Wales to raise awareness of the racial discrimination and segregation that was rife in country towns.
In 1967 Aboriginal Australians won the right to vote in a national referendum.
Charles Perkins through all his roles in life never ceased to speak out for recognition of his people. He grew up on a reserve and could not forget. He felt he had to push for justice always, something that is so hard to win in a stolen land.
Photographer and film maker Nicholas Adler took his studio into north-western Australia. He asked permission of the communities to do this and his camera was passive, waiting for people to decide for themselves that they wanted to stand before it and be seen by the world which denies their existence. Looking into the lens their eyes tell their story in a way that nothing else could. They speak for themselves of the truth that has passed.
Nicholas Adler, 1988,'Portraits from an Uninhabited Land', Bantam Press, Sydney.
