Misleading assumptions

I AM concerned that, while earnest spokespersons have presented conflicting analyses of the justification, benefits, and dangers of the “Voice” proposal; this Referendum is becoming an invitation for voters to just take a leap of faith motivated by two misleading assumptions.

The first assumption takes Colonisation out of context by assuming Aboriginal culture was peaceful and idyllic. However, first-hand accounts written in the 1800s/1900s of Aboriginal tribal life, including before being affected by displacement, explain why Colonists were shocked by some Tribal culture which today would be regarded as an abuse of human rights. Having recently decided to try to find out more about Aboriginal life pre-Colonisation, I now understand why only selective reference was made in regard to Aboriginal culture during my schooling in the 1950s.

Reading accounts by Daisy Bates (Protector of Aboriginals in SA for many years), Paul Raffaele (a respected ABC Journalist), and Ross Hartnell (well credentialed author of a Gippsland history book) and references to William Buckley (notable for having lived with Aboriginals for several decades) gives an insight into a brutal side of Aboriginal life. Recently, prompted by the unbalanced condemnation of our colonial foundation and the intergenerational guilt conferred on well-meaning Australians, I have accessed accounts on Google of confronting Tribal customs some of which are described in the context of the Aboriginals’ environmental constraints.

These references include:

1/Life and death in Aboriginal Australia

2/Infanticide in Traditional Aboriginal Society

3/Mistreatment of women in Aboriginal Society

4/Incidents of Cannibalism in Aboriginal Society

The forebears of today’s self-appointed “First Nations People” were divided by more than 400 different languages/dialects and did not support each other against gradual displacement by European settlement. Records showed that neighbouring tribesmen were killed if they retreated uninvited into another tribe’s area.

The second misleading assumption is that anyone with any degree of Aboriginal heritage requires ongoing acknowledgement and privileges. This is extended to ignoring the success of previous

Government programs which have resulted in many honourable, ambitious hard-working Aboriginals being able to become politicians, accountants, academics, journalists, elite sportspersons, business entrepreneurs, tradespeople, craftsmen, etc, while musicians, fashion designers and artists have enhanced their talents with the use of modern technology. Another recent achievement by an Aboriginal is his appointment by our Government to be the Ambassador for Indigenous Trade and Investment within the Federal Department of Trade and Investment.

Regardless of the outcome of this Referendum, we need balanced Truth Telling including revisiting the context of Colonisation, to enable our Nation to respect itself while honouring those who laid the foundation for modern Australia and its contribution to world affairs. Colonisation was inevitable in 1788, and Aboriginals could have fared far worse if they had been visited and exploited by unsupervised technologically superior entrepreneurs.

Rosemary Hutchinson, Inverloch