Brian Roberts - Essays on Aboriginalism

The term Aboriginalism is used here in a similar way to Judaism, Socialism or Capitalism. It is in essence a system governed by principles grounded in First Peoples values. Aboriginalism is a global phenomenon exhibited in many geographical regions, usually where climate and topography are not conducive to modern agriculture. In many cases, the societies displaying Aboriginalism have involuntarily contracted from more extensive original homelands, to their present locations. In other cases they involuntarily occupy locations reserved for Aboriginal people by the nationstate.

Aboriginality, i.e. being Aboriginal, cannot be studied or assessed in isolation, if it is to be properly understood as a subset of the Human Sciences. It is in the way that Aboriginality differs from other group identities, that its strengths and weaknesses are best evaluated and it is at the inter-cultural interface, that Aboriginality is best compared with other societal constructs.

The United Nations has produced a Declaration of Indigenous Rights, which acts as a touchstone for governments worldwide when theyre confronted with Indigenous claims to land, human rights and autonomy. In the present compilation of essays, Aboriginalism in its Australian context, is analysed as a subset of a modern multicultural nation state. These essays were written over a period of two years and were constructed as stand-alone pieces for journal publication. For this reason, the essays dont flow as a cohesive and sequential thought pattern but rather they attempt to unpack the societal impact of a range of Aboriginal-related topics.

Some Australian readers will wonder at the extent of South African material included in this essay collection. I believe that it is useful for Australian Aborigines to also view their situation through the African lens, if only to appreciate the comparative differences and similarities. This relativity also makes a change from the usual Australian comparison with the New Zealand and Canadian indigenes.

Some repetition of certain concepts is inevitable in a collection of stand-alone journal articles, so the author apologises up front if repetition irks some readers. However, it is hoped that these essays can be useful to secondary and tertiary teachers in their Humanities classes, since together they provide a nuanced range of liberal, conservative and Indigenous views on Australian race relations.

Since much of the original thinking on Australian Indigenous policy and principle stems from Noel Pearson, his writings are repeatedly referred to. Pearson however, is not judged as having all the answers, so he is challenged on a number of issues. As a knowledgeable ideas man, Pearsons well-articulated proposals carry more gravitas than those of any of his colleagues, with the possible exception of Marcia Langton.

The essays are grouped into six arbitrary subject areas, although logical sequencing within each part is problematic, it is hoped that this contribution will provide alternative views in the present debate on Indigenous Futures.

Brian Roberts

Cairns 2016

The Australian narrative of first contact between Indigenous people and exotic visitors has been described in many different ways: friendly, tentative, fierce and variations of these descriptions. Before revisiting the local contacts in Cape York, Western Australia, Tasmania and Botany Bay, it is instructive to compare these early encounters with those which predated the British by several centuries (Cummins, 2009). [see p.9]

The Phoenicians

A good starting point is the Phoenicians who are said to have circumnavigated Africa around 600 BC. Theyd become a seafaring nation from about 1400 BC and can claim the title of the first maritime explorers the world had known. The earliest civilisations of Mesopotamia, then Egypt and Samaria, were followed by Assyria and Greece. If the Old Testament is correct, the Phoenicians may well have also reached the shores of India at a very early date. They were not primarily navigators, rather they were traders seeking to open up new markets along their new-found sea routes. Unlike later expeditionary forces, the Phoenicians were not empire-builders seeking to conquer new lands for their king, but came as commercial emissaries offering manufactured goods to more primitive peoples who lacked advanced technology. As a result, their first contacts were largely peaceful, which cannot be said for many successive seekers pursuing wealth and even human resources.

The Romans to Britannia