We moved to Darwin over four months ago and it has been an interesting experience!
One of the things that appealed to me about this move was the chance to interact with indigenous Australians here in the Top End. I have always been fascinated with indigenous peoples, from the Native Americans of the Southwestern United States, to my limited experience with Maori in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Regarding Aborigines, my first interaction was in Sydney in 1999. I was working in hospitality and two aboriginal women came into the hotel where I was working. Two Australian staff were at the desk and said nothing as these indigenous Australians approached the reception desk. The interaction was eerie – the women stood there, saying nothing and feeling uncomfortable and the staff looked straight through them, as if they weren’t there. After a pause that seemed to go on for ages, I stepped up and asked these ladies if I could help them. This was my introduction to the relationship between indigenous and other Australians and it has been observed many times since. In my experience, indigenous Australians are ignored and the results of this can be seen in a number of ways, including the surprise you see on their faces if you walk past and say “hello” or smile as you pass them.
A few weeks ago, while I was having lunch, there were comments among the women with whom I was sitting comparing Aborigines to primates and I was absolutely shocked. If this is the sort of response in “professional” environments, what can we expect otherwise? It breaks my heart to even begin to imagine the treatment of these beautiful people in their own land.
Last night, an aboriginal man was sitting across the street from my house and crying. My wife asked if he was alright and then came into the house to see if I could talk to him. When I got outside, he was gone. One can only begin to imagine the pain that these people have had to endure at the hands of generations of invaders who often don’t consider them human. When whites arrived in Australia, they thought that they could take the land and they used a ridiculous legal fiction to support this desire to take what they wanted – the doctrine of Terra nullius. Under this doctrine of “land belonging to no one”, the Aborigines were “no one”. In my experience, many Aborigines are still treated like “no one”, or like children who need to be guided by paternal interventionist laws.
Perhaps a bit of empathy and respect are needed!